Italian GP: Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in Practice 1

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari set the pace in the first practice session at the Italian Grand Prix on Friday.

The Monegasque posted a benchmark of 1m22.410s, leading teammate Carlos Sainz by less than a tenth of a second as drivers completed runs on the soft tyre.

Behind the red (and yellow) cars, sat the two Silver Arrows with George Russell third, despite issues slowing down for the first chicane, and Lewis Hamilton fourth.

Max Verstappen sat four-tenths back in fifth but was impeded behind Lando Norris on the approach to Parabolica, meaning there is plenty of time still in the Dutchman’s pocket.

Of the top five, Sainz and Hamilton are set to start towards the back of the grid for new power units, and Verstappen will also drop five places for a new ICE.

A 10-place grid penalty was also confirmed for Sergio Perez, who was 14th in the second Red Bull.

Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso claimed sixth and seventh as Alpine’s strength on the straights perfectly suits the Temple of Speed at Monza.

Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas are two more drivers with grid penalties in eighth and ninth.

In the case of Tsunoda, he has a new power unit and also a 10-place penalty for amassing five reprimands, with his most recent coming in Zandvoort.

2021 Italian GP winner Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10 for McLaren, three-tenths faster than teammate Lando Norris in 16th.

After a strong weekend at Spa, Alex Albon had high hopes for Monza. And the Williams driver made a positive start in 11th.

On the contrary, Haas struggled in Belgium and could face another long weekend in Italy.

Kevin Magnussen was 17th, just four-tenths ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in 18th, as the Ferrari reserve made his first of two FP1 outings with the American team.

Nyck De Vries was 19th as he made his third FP1 outing of the year, this time at Aston Martin and Nicholas Latifi brought up the field.

Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below: