FP1: Leclerc leads Hamilton and Russell during first practice at the Italian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc set the pace during first practice at the Italian Grand Prix, the Monegasque leading a Ferrari 1-2 from team mate Lewis Hamilton while Mercedes’ George Russell was third.

At the stage of the session where many were switching to the soft tyres for their flying runs, Leclerc went fastest of all on the medium compound with his effort of 1m 23.008s – a time that stood until the end of the hour.

The opening practice session in Monza featured a few different names on the timesheets, with four rookies participating. Ayumu Iwasa was driving Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, while Williams’ Alex Albon had made way for Luke Browning, Paul Aron returned in Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and Colton Herta was getting his third run of the season in place of Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.

Meanwhile Liam Lawson was embarking on his second consecutive weekend for Red Bull, with the New Zealander continuing to stand in for an injured Isack Hadjar – meaning that Yuki Tsunoda had also been given another opportunity in Lawson’s seat at Racing Bulls.

Iwasa led out a queue of cars in hot and sunny conditions as FP1 got underway at 1230 local time, the majority of the pack sporting hard tyres for their early laps while some opted for the medium or soft compound.

With the track busy from the off, traffic proved to be an issue for some – including the rookies, with Iwasa complaining about Aron after encountering the Alpine ahead of him on the racing line. Meanwhile Russell had set the fastest time during the first quarter of the session, the Mercedes driver recording a lap of 1m 23.802s to go nearly four tenths clear of Lando Norris.

Shortly afterwards the yellow flags were thrown when Herta came to a halt out on track with a suspected hydraulic issue, the American having been asked by the team to stop the car. A Virtual Safety Car was subsequently called before the session was red-flagged as the marshals worked to clear the MAC-26.

With just over half of FP1 left when the action resumed, Norris was leading the timesheets on a 1m 23.719s as the drivers returned to the track. Some had switched to the soft tyres for their first flying laps, including the Mercedes pair of Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

While this initially put Russell at the top, Leclerc soon bettered the Briton's effort on the medium tyres with a lap of 1m 23.008s – undoubtedly giving the watching Tifosi something to cheer about.

This time put the Monegasque three tenths ahead of Russell, with Hamilton in third and Antonelli – sporting a special Valentino Rossi-inspired helmet for his home race – holding fourth. Aron, meanwhile, had again sparked the ire of another driver as Tsunoda took to the radio to complain about the Estonian being in his path.

As the final quarter of the session played out, the track remained busy as the teams and drivers set about completing their programmes. Hamilton was amongst those to improve and moved up to P2, less than two tenths behind his team mate.

Leclerc’s earlier benchmark ultimately proved unbeatable, the Monegasque leading a Ferrari 1-2 while Russell was three tenths adrift of the top spot in third. Lawson claimed fourth in the Red Bull, followed by Antonelli and Norris while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto in the Alpine and Aron completed the top 10.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri placed in 11th, ahead of Tsunoda and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Ollie Bearman – in an upgraded Haas – claiming P14. Browning was 15th followed by the other Williams of Carlos Sainz, while Iwasa, Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll were next.

Herta, meanwhile, rounded out the classification after only completing five laps before his stoppage on track.

The drivers and teams will now have a chance to reconvene and examine their data before Free Practice 2 takes place at 1600 local time.