Charles Leclerc led a one-two from team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix first practice as Ferrari impressed after debuting an engine upgrade at Monza. Leclerc’s time of 1:23.008s put him 0.173s clear of Hamilton, with Mercedes’ George Russell a further tenth back in third. World championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who will start from the back of the grid in Sunday’s race after exceeding his allowance of engine parts for the season, was fifth for Mercedes. McLaren’s Lando Norris, who has won the last two races to reignite his hopes of defending his title, was behind Antonelli in sixth.
Antonelli leads both Russell and Hamilton by 59 points at the top of the standings, with Norris 83 points behind the Italian in fourth. Ferrari have chosen their home race to deploy the second of the two engine upgrades they’ve been permitted to use across the season, after the FIA’s measurements found their power unit to be inferior to those produced by Red Bull and Mercedes. Ferrari have also brought a package of circuit-specific chassis upgrades to Monza in an attempt to boost the performance of the car at the high-speed track. Their first showing of the weekend was made more impressive by the fact that the best times from Leclerc and Hamilton were both performed on the medium compound, while Russell’s best lap was on the theoretically faster soft tyre.
However, with Antonelli knowing one-lap pace isn’t important for him as he will start from the back of the grid regardless of where he qualifies, it’s possible Mercedes have more speed than they showed. Liam Lawson took an encouraging fourth for a Red Bull team fielding a line-up that included neither of their official 2026 drivers. Lawson was driving in place of Isack Hadjar, who is missing a second race after injuring his wrist over the sport’s summer break, while Verstappen was one of four drivers to make way for rookies to feature in the session. Ayumu Iwasa was 17th in Verstappen’s Red Bull, while Paul Aron was the best-performing rookie in 10th for Alpine.
Colton Herta’s chance to drive for Cadillac was cut short by a technical issue, and Britain’s Luke Browning was 15th for Williams. Friday September 412.55pm: F3 Qualifying1.50pm: F2 Qualifying2.35pm: Italian Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 3pm)4.15pm: The F1 Show5.20pm: Team Bosses’ Press Conference Saturday September 58.25am: F3 Sprint11.15am: Italian Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11:30am)1.10pm: F2 Sprint2.15pm: Italian Grand Prix Qualifying build-up3pm: ITALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook Sunday September 67.10am: F3 Feature Race8.40am: F2 Feature Race10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction5pm: Ted’s Notebook Formula 1 is at Monza for Ferrari’s home race at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1.
