Lewis Hamilton opened the Italian Grand Prix weekend by leading a Ferrari 1-2 during first practice at Monza on Friday afternoon.
Hamilton, who carries a five-place grid penalty into Sunday’s race, clocked a time of 1:20.117s to finish 0.169s clear of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz was third-best, over half a second behind pacesetter Hamilton.
Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, with the sole Italian driver in the field, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, classifying fifth.
McLaren driver Lando Norris was sixth, nine-tenths off the pace, while Oscar Piastri sat out the session in order for test driver Alex Dunne to make his second FP1 outing of the year.
Dunne completed the session without major incident in 16th place.
Alex Albon capped an encouraging display for Williams by finishing seventh, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Russell caused a Virtual Safety Car during the final minute of proceedings when his Mercedes W16 came to a halt just before the second chicane.
Isack Hadjar dragged gravel onto the track after a wide moment through Ascari, which caused the only red flag of the session just over halfway through, but he was able to return to action and round out the top 10.
Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron had his first practice outing with the team of the season, having previously participated in two sessions with Sauber.
Aron replaced Franco Colapinto for the session and finished at the rear of the 20-car field.
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