Monza, FP1: Leclerc leads Ferrari one-two in first practice

Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet ahead of Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz in the first free practice session for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix as championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth. It was also revealed that the Red Bull driver will take an engine-related grid penalty on Sunday in Monza.

At the start of the opening practice session Verstappen quickly moved to the top of the order with a lap of 1: 25.830 set on hard tyres. His Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez then took top spot with a hard-tyre time of 1:25.026s before Alpine’s Fernando Alonso stole P1 by 0.091s.

Verstappen improved over his hard tyres run, however, and after reclaiming top spot after 10 minutes with a lap of 1:23.449, he eventually worked his way down to 1:22.853 before drivers began to switch to soft tyres.

Leclerc, on the red-walled rubber, immediately took top spot from Verstappen with a 1:22.410. Verstappen looked on course to beat that time, but the Dutchman encountered traffic in the final sector and he would end up fifth overall.

George Russell finished the session in third place while his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fourth with a lap of 1:22.831 that left him 0.421 off Leclerc.

Verstappen finished fifth and 0.430 off the pace and it was revealed that the World Championship leader will incur a five-place grid drop for taking a new internal combustion engine.

Sixth place went to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon with team-mate Alonso seventh ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. Tenth spot went to 2021 Monza winner Daniel Ricciardo, with team-mate Lando Norris down in 16th in the second McLaren.

There were two FP1 cameos in the session with former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi finishing 18th in an outing with Haas and Nyck de Vries 19th for Aston Martin.