2025 Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 F1 results (Monza)

Thomas Maher 05 Sep 2025 1:45 PM

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 2025 Italian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton was quickest in first practice at Monza.

Ferrari has claimed an eye-opening 1-2 finish in first practice at Monza, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton rose to the top of the pecking order in the closing minutes of the first session at Monza, with the Scuderia claiming an emphatic 1-2 ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Lewis Hamilton fastest for first time since Chinese Sprint

Charles Leclerc had put in the fastest time on the soft tyres immediately after a red flag stoppage with 20 minutes to go, with Ferrari having also shown strong pace on the medium tyres at the beginning of the session.

The one-hour session was briefly halted after 40 minutes, due to gravel on track at Turn 8 as Kimi Antonelli touched the outer limits of the kerbs, as well as Turn 6 after Isack Hadjar ran wide.

The red flag gave the marshals a chance to sweep the track and clean up some debris from two other locations around the circuit.

Leclerc briefly looked as though he may get in trouble as, immediately after the red flag was shown, he overtook a slow-moving car exiting the Curva Grande.

Having hit the brakes upon realisation of the red flag, Leclerc did go past the car and the incident was initially noted, but no further investigation was taken by the stewards.

Upon resumption, Leclerc lowered the benchmark to 1:20.286 to usurp Max Verstappen by four-tenths of a second, with the Red Bull driver having climbed to the top before the stoppage.

Moments later, Carlos Sainz moved into second to give the tifosi another reason to cheer, with the Spaniard – who drove for Ferrari for four seasons until last year – put in a strong showing for Williams.

But it got even better for the tifosi in the closing minutes, as Lewis Hamilton popped in a 1:20.117 to go a tenth clear of his teammate and make it a Ferrari 1-2.

The top four remained Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen to the chequered flag, with Antonelli slotting into fifth on the anniversary of his first session in Formula 1.

Lando Norris was sixth in what was a quiet session for McLaren, as temporary teammate Alex Dunne also logged a quieter session than his last F1 appearance by claiming 16th in Oscar Piastri’s car.

Alex Albon was seventh for Williams, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell. The British driver suffered a power failure right at the end of FP1, bringing out the yellow flags as he ground to a halt at the second chicane.

Fernando Alonso was ninth for Aston Martin, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.