Monza, Sep 4 (IANS) Charles Leclerc led Lewis Hamilton as Ferrari bagged a one-two finish in the First Practice session at the home Monza GP on Friday.

Leclerc set the best pace in the hour-long FP1 in hot and sunny conditions at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with a time of 1:23:008 as he was nearly two-tenths quicker than the British driver as the two raced in a Michael Schumacher-inspired SF-26 at the Italian GP.

Mercedes driver George Russell was third with nearly three tenths behind Leclerc, while Liam Lawson, who got another race in Red Bull for the injured Isack Hadjar, was fourth in the FP1.

Current F1 title leader Kimi Antonelli was in fifth, more than six tenths adrift of the pace setter Leclerc, while Lando Norris of McLaren, Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls, Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi, Franco Colapinto of Alpine and Paul Aron of Alpine wrapped up the top 10.

The practice session saw four rookies racing behind the wheels as a few incumbents sat their way out. Four-time champion Max Verstappen was one of those to miss FP1 as Ayumu Iwasa raced in his car and ended 17th in the first practice.

Williams driver Alex Albon made way for Luke Browning, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly sat out for Aron, while Cadillac’s Sergio Perez missed the session for Colton Herta.

The session was kicked off with Iwasa leading the queue of drivers at the track, with some opting for hard tyres early in their laps, while others went with the medium or soft set of tyres for their initial laps.

Mercedes’ Russell set the pace in the first quarter of the session with a timing of 1m 23.802s before a yellow flag was called for Herta, who had a suspected hydraulic issue. The rookie had stopped on the track as the session was red-flagged briefly to clear the car.

When things resumed, Norris took the top spot with a time of 1m 23.719s as the Mercedes pair of Russell and Antonelli switched to soft tyres. Russell set the timesheet briefly in his soft compound before Leclerc broke it with a time of 1m 23.008s as the Tifosi cheered from the stands.

The final quarter saw Hamilton, who was third, go past Russell to take the second spot as no one could beat Leclerc’s time in the first practice. Lawson also leapfrogged Antonelli to take fourth as he looks to impress on his second straight outing in Red Bull due to the injury of Hadjar.

–IANS

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