Leclerc Shines in Monza FP1 with Impressive Lap
Charles Leclerc lit up Monza in first practice, setting the tone for Ferrari’s home weekend with a statement lap that left the Tifosi roaring and the rest of the field chasing shadows.
On a sun-drenched Friday lunchtime, the Monegasque driver clocked a 1m 23.008s on medium tyres – not the softs many rivals had turned to – and nobody got near it. When the hour was up, the timing screens told a story the crowd loved: Leclerc on top, Ferrari 1-2, Lewis Hamilton just behind, and George Russell best of the rest in third for Mercedes.
Leclerc lays down a marker
The session built slowly, most cars heading out on hard tyres as Ayumu Iwasa led the field away in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Traffic was heavy from the first laps, rookies and veterans tripping over each other as they searched for space around the Temple of Speed.
Russell set the early standard with a 1m 23.802s, almost four tenths clear of Lando Norris, as Mercedes bolted on the pace in the opening phase. That looked solid enough. Then the session was jolted.
Colton Herta’s Cadillac ground to a halt with a suspected hydraulic issue after just five laps. Yellow flags flew, a Virtual Safety Car followed, and then the red flag came out while marshals recovered the stricken MAC-26. It stalled the rhythm, but it did not cool Ferrari’s intent.
When the track went green again with just over half an hour left, Norris sat on top with a 1m 23.719s. Teams began to reveal more of their hand. Soft tyres appeared on several cars, including both Mercedes of Russell and Kimi Antonelli, as qualifying simulations crept into the programme.
For a moment, Russell’s soft-tyre effort looked like the benchmark. Then Leclerc arrived.
On mediums, he tore around Monza and stopped the clock at 1m 23.008s. No tricks, no tyre offset in his favour – just raw pace. The lap put him three tenths clear of Russell and brought a roar from the grandstands that felt more like a Sunday than a Friday.
Hamilton soon joined the party, improving late on to slot into second and complete a Ferrari 1-2, less than two tenths off his team mate. Antonelli, running a striking Valentino Rossi-inspired helmet for his home race, held fourth for a time as he continued to look increasingly at ease in Formula 1 machinery.
Rookies in the spotlight, tempers on the radio
This was no ordinary FP1. Four rookies took part, and they were impossible to ignore.
Iwasa climbed into Verstappen’s Red Bull, Luke Browning replaced Alex Albon at Williams, Paul Aron returned in Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, and Herta took his third outing of the season in place of Sergio Perez at Cadillac.
They were busy from the start – and occasionally in the way. Iwasa complained over the radio about Aron after catching the Alpine on the racing line in traffic. Later, Tsunoda had his own gripe about Aron, frustration spilling out as he found the Estonian in his path.
Liam Lawson, on his second consecutive weekend for Red Bull in place of the injured Isack Hadjar, made his case in far more productive fashion. The New Zealander delivered a sharp session to take fourth on the timesheets, behind Russell and ahead of Antonelli and Norris, underlining again why he remains firmly on the radar for a full-time seat.
Behind that leading group, the rookies and stand-ins peppered the order. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad impressed with a run to seventh, followed by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth. Franco Colapinto put his Alpine into ninth, with Aron rounding out the top 10 despite those radio complaints.
Midfield shuffle and early warning signs
Oscar Piastri ended FP1 in 11th for McLaren, just outside the top 10, ahead of Tsunoda and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ollie Bearman, in an upgraded Haas, took 14th as he continued to work through the team’s new package.
Browning slotted into 15th on his Williams debut, followed by team mate Carlos Sainz in the other car. Behind them came Iwasa, Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin.
Herta’s day never really started. The American completed only five laps before his stoppage and finished rooted to the bottom of the classification, his session defined by that hydraulic issue and the long, lonely ride back to the pits.
Up front, though, the picture was clear enough. Ferrari looked sharp, quick, and comfortable at a circuit that demands low drag and high commitment. Leclerc’s medium-tyre benchmark survived every soft-tyre assault. Hamilton backed it up with strong long-run work as well as his late jump to P2.
The noise around Monza tends to rise and fall with Ferrari’s fortunes. After FP1, it was already humming. The real question is whether this early authority can carry through qualifying and into Sunday, when the Temple of Speed stops forgiving and starts judging.
