Ferrari Dominates FP1 at Monza with Leclerc Leading
Charles Leclerc lit up Monza on Friday, leading a Ferrari one-two in first practice as the Scuderia’s new power unit made an immediate statement at home.
The Monegasque clocked a 1:23.008, good enough to put him 0.173s clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with George Russell another tenth back in third for Mercedes. On paper, it was just an opening session. In the grandstands draped in red, it felt like a promise.
Ferrari’s new heart, same old theatre
Ferrari chose Monza to unleash the second and final engine upgrade allowed this season, after FIA measurements confirmed their power unit lagged behind Red Bull and Mercedes. They didn’t stop there. A bundle of circuit-specific chassis tweaks arrived too, all aimed at trimming drag and sharpening the car through the high-speed sweeps of the Temple of Speed.
The early signs were striking. Both Leclerc and Hamilton set their best laps on the medium compound. Russell needed the softer, theoretically faster tyre to get within range. For a team that has spent much of the year glancing nervously at the straights, this was a different kind of anxiety: what can this package really do over a weekend?
The tifosi will answer that with noise. For now, the stopwatch suggests Ferrari have brought genuine firepower to their home race.
Antonelli on the back foot, not off the pace
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli ended the session fifth in the other Mercedes, behind an impressive Liam Lawson. The Italian knows his fate already: he will start Sunday’s race from the back after exceeding his engine allocation for the season.
That reality shapes his weekend. One-lap glory means little when the grid penalty is locked in, so Mercedes kept their cards close. The team’s true qualifying pace remains hidden, but Antonelli’s underlying speed is not in doubt.
He arrives at Monza with a 59-point cushion over both Russell and Hamilton, who are tied behind him in the standings. Lando Norris, winner of the last two races and suddenly alive in the title fight again, sits 83 points back in fourth. The gap is big. Not unassailable. Not at this track, not in this atmosphere.
Norris could only manage sixth in FP1, tucked in behind Antonelli. For McLaren, the session was more reconnaissance than revelation.
Red Bull’s stand-in shines, rookies take their shot
Red Bull turned heads with their line-up before a wheel had turned. Neither of their official 2026 race drivers took part, handing the spotlight to stand-ins and rookies.
Lawson seized it. The New Zealander delivered an eye-catching fourth place, splitting the Ferraris and Mercedes and giving Red Bull a timely reminder of his sharpness. He deputised for Isack Hadjar, who remains sidelined with a wrist injury picked up over the summer break.
On the other side of the garage, Ayumu Iwasa stepped into Max Verstappen’s seat and finished 17th. The raw time mattered less than the mileage; Red Bull used the session to feed their junior talent and gather data, not to chase headlines.
The rookie story didn’t end there. Paul Aron produced the standout performance of the newcomers, taking 10th for Alpine and slotting neatly into the midfield fight. Luke Browning, representing Williams, banked a solid 15th as he eased into his first taste of Monza in F1 machinery.
Colton Herta’s opportunity with Cadillac, though, barely got going. A technical issue cut his run short, a frustrating end to a day that should have been about adaptation and learning.
Monza stirs, the weekend sharpens
Behind the headline times, the competitive picture remains blurred. Ferrari’s medium-tyre supremacy hints at a powerful baseline. Mercedes, with Antonelli’s penalty and Russell’s soft-tyre lap, look like a team still hiding a layer of performance. McLaren have yet to show their hand. Red Bull’s true speed is buried under a development-focused session and a reshuffled line-up.
What is clear is the setting. Monza is full, loud and restless, and Ferrari have given their fans a reason to believe that Sunday might be more than a procession of damage limitation.
Practice One belonged to Leclerc and to the car with a new heart beating under its scarlet bodywork. The question now is simple and brutal: when qualifying comes, and when the fuel loads drop for real, does this Ferrari roar still carry all the way down the main straight?
