Hamilton leads Ferrari 1-2 at Monza - 2025 Italian Grand Prix FP1 results

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc set the pace in opening practice for the Italian Grand Prix, raising Ferrari‘s hopes for its home event.

Hamilton, who is facing a five-place grid penalty for the race, made a promising debut as a Ferrari driver in front of the tifosi by setting the quickest time.

Leclerc, last year’s winner at Monza, finished less than two tenths behind Hamilton in second in the opening hour of running.

The session finished under a virtual safety car as George Russell‘s Mercedes stopped on track ahead of the Curva della Roggia, the Briton reporting a problem.

“Oh, I’ve lost power. Rears are locked” Russell, eighth quickest, said on the radio.

Leclerc’s former team-mate Carlos Sainz was third fastest in the Williams, ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in the quickest of the Red Bulls.

Local hero Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top five, the Italian the quickest of the Mercedes drivers.

Championship contender Lando Norris finished as sixth quickest as 2025 dominator McLaren endured a rather slow start to the weekend.

The session was red-flagged with 25 minutes to go after Isack Hadjar went off track at Variante Ascari, leaving lots of gravel on the racing line, which needed to be cleared.

Hadjar’s car needed attention after the incident, with mechanics looking at the floor of his car once he returned to the pits.

The track cleaning took about eight minutes before the action resumed.

Alex Dunne was one of two rookies driving in FP1, the Irishman taking over Oscar Piastri‘s McLaren for his second outing with the team this season, following the one in Austria.

Dunne finished 16th, half a second off Norris’s pace.

Paul Aron was back at the wheel of a Formula 1 car for the third time this year, replacing Franco Colapinto at Alpine.

The Estonian had already driven in FP1 at Silverstone and Hungary for Sauber before moving to Alpine. He finished slowest in the session, which included a spin at Curva della Roggia after putting his right wheels on the grass.

2025 Italian GP FP1 results