Charles Leclerc Shines in Monza FP1 with Ferrari 1-2

Charles Leclerc lit up Monza in first practice, setting the tone for Ferrari’s home weekend with a punchy lap that left the Tifosi roaring and the rest of the field chasing shadows.

On a warm, bright afternoon, the Monegasque driver stopped the clock at 1m 23.008s – on medium tyres, no less – to head a Ferrari 1-2 ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton. George Russell slotted into third for Mercedes, three tenths back, on a day when the established order had to share the stage with a wave of rookies.

Leclerc lays down an early marker

The session’s key moment came just as others rolled out on the soft compound for their first serious qualifying simulations. Russell had just jumped to the top with a 1m 23.802s on the red-walled tyre, looking every bit the early benchmark.

Then Leclerc arrived.

On mediums, he stitched together a lap that hooked up Monza’s long straights and chicanes to perfection, ripping more than seven tenths out of Russell’s effort and planting Ferrari firmly at the top of the times. The time would not be beaten.

Hamilton later improved to make it a Ferrari lockout at the front, ending up less than two tenths shy of his team mate. Behind them, Russell had to settle for third, while Kimi Antonelli – running a Valentino Rossi-inspired helmet for his home race – claimed an eye-catching fifth in the other Mercedes.

Between them sat Liam Lawson, who continued to make the most of his extended chance in Formula 1. Standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull for a second straight weekend, the New Zealander delivered a composed run to fourth, underlining his growing confidence in the car.

Rookies crowd the spotlight

This was not a conventional Monza FP1. Four rookies took part, and their presence reshaped the timesheets and the traffic.

Ayumu Iwasa climbed into Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, Luke Browning replaced Alex Albon at Williams, Paul Aron returned in Pierre Gasly’s Alpine seat, and Colton Herta got his third outing of the season, this time in place of Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.

Iwasa led a train of cars out of the pit lane when the session opened at 1230 local time, most of them on hard tyres as teams eased into their programmes. Traffic built quickly. So did frustration. Iwasa complained over the radio about Aron blocking him on the racing line, a taste of the congestion that would characterise the hour.

Herta’s session barely got going. After just five laps, his Cadillac rolled to a stop with what the team suspected was a hydraulic issue. He was told to park the car, prompting yellow flags, then a Virtual Safety Car, and finally a red flag as marshals cleared the stranded MAC-26.

When the track went green again with just over half the session remaining, Lando Norris led the order on a 1m 23.719s. Soft tyres began to appear on more cars, including both Mercedes, and the tempo lifted sharply. Russell’s brief spell at the top was the trigger for Leclerc’s response and Ferrari’s statement lap.

Busy track, frayed tempers

The closing stages turned into a rolling traffic jam at 300 km/h. Teams packed the circuit as they chased long-run data and final qualifying simulations, and the rookies once again found themselves in the crosshairs.

Aron, who had already drawn Iwasa’s ire, came under fire from Yuki Tsunoda, the Racing Bulls driver complaining that the Estonian had again strayed into his path. With so many young drivers learning both car and circuit, positioning became as important as outright pace.

Behind the leading Ferrari pair and Russell, Lawson’s fourth place underlined Red Bull’s solid baseline, while Antonelli’s fifth – ahead of Norris in sixth – kept the home crowd’s attention firmly on the Italian teenager as well as the scarlet cars.

Arvid Lindblad put his Racing Bulls into seventh, followed by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth. Franco Colapinto delivered a neat performance to take ninth for Alpine, with Aron recovering from his traffic dramas to complete the top 10.

Oscar Piastri finished 11th for McLaren, ahead of Tsunoda and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ollie Bearman, armed with an upgraded Haas, took 14th, just ahead of Browning, who ended his Williams debut in 15th. Carlos Sainz, in the other Williams, followed in 16th.

Iwasa’s busy session yielded only 17th, ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin. Herta, halted early, propped up the classification in 21st.

Leclerc’s name stayed at the top of the timing tower as the chequered flag fell, the Ferrari 1-2 a familiar sight at Monza but a powerful one all the same. The Tifosi have seen plenty of false dawns around this place.

Now they will want to know: was this just a bright start, or the first sign that Ferrari intend to own their home weekend from the very first lap to the last?