Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari blow rivals out of the water, McLaren out of the top 5, Russell DNF's!

14:30, 05 Sep

Updated: 16:41, 05 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Lewis Hamilton has led the first practice session at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for the 16th round of the F1 championship, the Italian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc finished P2 with Carlos Sainz completing the top 3.

How it happened

With the first fifteen minutes of runnind in the books, it was, perhaps surprisingly, Max Verstappen leading the timing sheets ahead of Alexander Albon, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, with Charles Leclerc rounding off the top 5.

Lando Norris placed P6 ahead of Isack Hadjar, George Russell, Gabriel Bortoleto and Lewis Hamilton in P10. Leclerc then lept to P2 behind Verstappen, with his British teammate also closing up to the front taking over from Norris' P6.

As the session progressed, McLaren still failed to make any headway at the front with Lando Norris unable to sneak into the top 3, and McLaren junior who'd taken over Oscar Piastri for FP1 placing P16.

As the soft runs started, Leclerc took P1, with Hamilton besting his efforts and demoting the Monegasque to P2 a whopping 9 tenths ahead of Norris. Sainz and Verstappen took P3 and P4 some 5 tenths behind Hamilton's time.

Antonelli placed P5 ahead of Norris, Russell, Alonso and Hadjar who completed the top 10.