Charles Leclerc set the pace in Friday’s F1 opening practice session at Monza, leading a Ferrari 1-2 alongside teammate Lewis Hamilton. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, while local favourite Kimi Antonelli impressed in fifth.
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Friday’s opening practice session at Monza took place under sunny skies and very high temperatures, providing challenging conditions for the drivers. FP1 also featured several rookie appearances, with Ayumu Iwasa driving for Red Bull, Colton Herta making his session debut with Cadillac, Paul Aron representing Alpine, and Luke Browning taking the wheel for Haas.
After the opening laps, Lando Norris initially set the pace, although the early running was largely focused on installation and warm-up laps. The first representative flying laps came around the halfway point of the session, when Charles Leclerc moved to the top of the timing sheets. Driving the upgraded Ferrari power unit, the Monegasque set a 1:23.008 on the medium tyres.
Lewis Hamilton later attempted to close the gap to his teammate but was unable to beat Leclerc’s benchmark. Both Ferraris completed the session on medium tyres, while George Russell finished third after setting his best time on softs. Despite the tyre advantage, the Mercedes driver was still around three-tenths of a second slower than Leclerc.
Local favourite Kimi Antonelli also enjoyed a strong session, finishing fifth on the timing sheets.
The McLarens, meanwhile, did not show the same level of performance as Ferrari in the latter stages of FP1. Norris ended the session in sixth, while Oscar Piastri finished 11th.
The full results of the FP1 according to FIA.com:
