Italian GP: Ferrari set Tifosi hearts racing with eye-opening display in FP1

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc started Ferrari’s home grand prix with a 1-2 in first practice, the teammates giving the Tifosi something to celebrate.

One team not celebrating was Mercedes with George Russell suffering an late breakdown as he reported he had “lost power”.

Ferrari 1-2 at Monza

Skies of blue, a sea of red and Tifosi in their thousands to watch Lewis Hamilton’s first practice session at the Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver set the stage for FP1 at Monza.

The drivers queued at the end of the pit lane with Nico Hulkenberg leading out the field, including McLaren reserve driver Alex Dunne who was in for championship leader Oscar Piastri. “We need to put the headrest pads on when I come back,” he reported to McLaren.

Hamilton went quickest on his opening lap, a 1:22.235, put him ahead of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon, while Gabriel Bortoleto went off at the chicane and Lance Stroll reported “helmet lift”.

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Albon hit the front 10 minutes into the session as his teammate Carlos Sainz finally left the pits, the last driver to put in a lap. The Thai-British racer went even quicker with a 1:21.073.

Liam Lawson had a small off, dropping a wheel into the gravel, while Verstappen, despite complaining that his “tyres are starting to slide a little bit more in general”, pipped Albon by three-tenths.

Monza’s traffic issues reared its head for Pierre Gasly as he had to take avoid action against Sainz, telling Alpine: “Yeah, that’s not fair from Sainz. Always the same ****ing guy.”

Paul Aron, in action for Alpine, had a spin at after “touching the gravel on entry” at Turn 4, with Isack Hadjar noted by Race Control for rejoining the action in the incorrect manner.

Midway through the hour long session, Verstappen was P1 ahead of Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Albon, Hadjar and Fernando Alonso. Verstappen was the only one of the six on soft tyres.

McLaren were the next to swap to the soft Pirelli tyres, but Norris backed out on his first flying lap while Dunne took a full second off his previous medium tyre lap to go 15th. Leclerc joined the mix but stayed third while Norris once again made a mistake at the chicane and backed off on his second flying lap.

Kimi Antonelli and Hadjar joined the list of drivers going through the gravel, the session red flagged due to the gravel on the track. Racing Bulls noted a “spreading” amount of gravel stuck in Hadjar’s car.

Leclerc appeared to overtake a Sauber as the red flag was thrown and was noted by Race Control. “No further action” was the ruling.

Back underway, Leclerc bolted on the soft tyres and went fastest with a 1:20.286, George Russell reported “helmet lift”, Hamilton went third behind Verstappen, Sainz in fourth wasn’t able to improve his time on the red Pirellis and Antonelli cut the chicane.

As the drivers continued to struggle at Ascari, Fernando Alonso was the next to kick up gravel.

Hamilton put in a late effort with a purple in the middle sector to join his teammate in a Ferrari 1-2, up by 0.169s.

The Ferrari teammates finished the session with the 1-2 ahead of Sainz and Verstappen, while a late breakdown for Russell brought out the VSC with 30 seconds on the clock. “I’ve lost power,” he reported to Mercedes.

Italian Grand Prix FP1 times

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:20.117
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.169
3 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.533
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.575
5 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.823
6 Lando Norris McLaren +0.904
7 Alexander Albon Williams +0.956
8 George Russell Mercedes + 0.993
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.997
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1.041
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.055
12 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +1.062
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.084
14 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +1.175
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.178
16 Alexander Dunne McLaren +1.489
17 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.525
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.536
19 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1.941
20 Paul Aron Alpine +2.036

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