Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli dipped a wheel in the gravel in a reasonably uneventful first session for Mercedes, who ran the medium and soft tyres. But they looked much faster in the second session, with George Russell finishing on top and Antonelli close behind in third. That puts the team in a good position heading into tomorrow, especially given Antonelli can offer his team mate a tow in Q3, which will enhance Russell’s chances of grabbing pole.
Kimi Antonelli - FP1: 1:23.644, P5; FP2: 1:22.700, P3
"It’s amazing to be here at Monza! There has been so much support from the fans, and it means so much to me. I can’t wait to see it over the rest of the weekend, and I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who is cheering for me and the team.
"Today was a little bit different to a usual Friday. As we will be starting from the back of the grid, we focused much more of our efforts on optimising for our race pace. We gathered a lot of data, and we didn’t seem too far away in terms of competitiveness. We will need to be strong if we are to battle our way back towards the front of the field; we will need to do a lot of overtaking on Sunday. We got some experience of that by running in traffic during our long runs and that will hopefully prove to be very useful learning for the race."
George Russell - FP1: 1:23.312, P3; FP2: 1:22.559, P1
"It was great to be back on track here in Monza. It’s a brilliant circuit and always fun to drive. It was quite a strong Friday for us; we got through lots of work and seemed to have decent pace on both the single lap and long run. We made some adjustments after FP1 that helped but we know we’ve still got more work to do overnight.
"Ferrari looked very competitive and they still look to be the ones to beat. We also know how strong McLaren have been recently and I have no doubt they will get themselves in the mix for tomorrow. We can’t count out Red Bull either. It’s an encouraging opening to the weekend but it’s early days. Let’s see what Saturday brings."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"Overall we’ve had a good Friday here in Monza. It's hard to know where you will end up in terms of performance going from a high downforce track like Zandvoort to a low downforce track like Monza, but the read today was fairly encouraging. There's no guarantee that Friday pace translates into Saturday and Sunday, but the car is in a decent place, and we can look to find some further improvements from there.
"The programmes were quite different across the two cars. George was running a standard programme and Kimi with his power unit penalty was more focused on race preparation. The track grip has been surprisingly good from the start and that prompted us to drop the wing level with George going into FP2. That also gave us a good cross-car compare.
"There is a bit of data to pick through before we make a final decision, but we've got overnight to do that analysis. It certainly looks tight in terms of performance; all the teams we are fighting with have shown strong pace at various times today so we're not taking anything for granted but pleased that we seem to be in the fight."
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc topped the opening hour of practice from his team mate, despite Ferrari opting not to run the soft compound tyres. They did run the red-marked rubber in FP2, and were quick once again. Leclerc wound up second, just one tenth back from Russell on what proved a strong day for the Monegasque racer. He did blot his copybook with a late spin though, fortunately keeping out of the gravel and away from the barriers. Lewis Hamilton was a shade behind his team mate, but still very much in the mix.
Charles Leclerc - FP1: 1:23.008, P1; FP2: 1 :22.679, P2
"It’s always exciting to be back in Monza, a very special place for us as a team and for all our tifosi. There’s still some work ahead of us as our competitors look strong, but so far, the feeling with the car was solid. We know our weaknesses and we will focus on those, giving everything to bring home the best result on Sunday."
Lewis Hamilton - FP1: 1:23.181, P2; FP2: 1:23.016, P5
"It was a bit of a mixed session with some good learnings to take away. The updated power unit is a step in the right direction and I’m really grateful to everyone back at the factory for all the work that has gone into it. We made some changes through the day and there are positive things to take from the sessions, but it was still difficult to get the most out of the car and put a complete lap together. We need to understand some areas better, so we’ll be going through the data tonight and see what we can do to put the car in a better window for tomorrow and ensure we’re in the best possible position for qualifying."
McLaren
McLaren are running their upside-down rear wing here, and spent a portion of FP1 testing it out with flow-vis paint in evidence. Lando Norris was the quicker of the duo in the opening session, and he also had the edge in FP2. He wound up fourth, and it certainly looks like McLaren can make this a three-team fight for pole tomorrow. Oscar Piastri was a little further back, the Australian once again struggling to match his team mate for outright pace.
Lando Norris - FP1: 1:23.719, P6; FP2: 1:22.943, P4
“The pace isn’t where we need it to be right now. Oddly, we need to find performance in the corners where we expected to be strong, while we’re a bit better than expected in the ones we thought would be difficult. It’s very tight at the front and the group behind isn’t far off either, so we’ll work overnight to find gains, but it's going to be tough.
“I don’t think we’re in the fight for Pole right now, so the priority is to focus on execution and come away with a decent result. If we can tidy up the balance and make the right changes, we can still put ourselves in a decent position, even if we’re not quite where we want to be on outright performance.”
Oscar Piastri - FP1: 1:24.184, P11; FP2: 1:23.028, P6
“Day one in Monza done. We’ve learned a decent amount and collected a lot of data, which gives us a solid foundation to work from overnight. There’s lots for us still to learn and maximise as we don’t have the pace we need right now. We’ll focus on unlocking more performance overnight and see what more we can take from FP3 into Qualifying.”
Red Bull
Ayumu Iwasa was in for Max Verstappen in FP1, running aero rakes in the early stages. Bar being frustrated by traffic, he had a decent session. As did Liam Lawson, who ran two sets of softs and wound up fourth overall. But things unravelled slightly more for Red Bull in FP2, with Verstappen cutting a frustrated figure from word go. He complained about a number of things, came in for a front wing change and finished down in ninth, while Lawson could not even trouble the top 10. Work to do overnight if they want to compete for the front rows tomorrow.
Max Verstappen - FP2: 1:23.377, P9
“It was tricky to get the balance of the car right today and we will need to work on this for tomorrow to find a little bit more lap time. Our gap is still big compared to the front runners, but I hope that we can close it a little bit in Qualifying over one lap. Hopefully we will be even closer in the race and it will come together a bit more on the long runs, but this is trickier to predict. We are looking at what we can do overnight with the car and see if we can make some positive changes and try and get the true corner balance together. Of course, it was only FP2 for me today, but it was good that Ayumu got a chance to drive.”
Liam Lawson - FP1: 1:23.433, P4; FP2: 1:23.660, P12
“It’s been a productive day. We were very focused on long runs today, particularly in FP2. We did a lot of laps but didn’t really do many short runs, so I reckon we’ll focus on that tomorrow. Compared to the front runners we are definitely not able to match what they can do in terms of downforce here, but there’s been some good learnings from today, and we will try and see what we can tomorrow.”
Ayumu Iwasa - FP1: 1:24.873, P17
“I think we had a successful session. It was quite a similar run plan to the session I did in Barcelona earlier this season, with a rake on the car at the beginning of the session. We collected a lot of aero data before switching to more performance-oriented runs, which was good, and I think we gained some valuable information for the rest of the weekend. Overall, it was a good session for the Team and I think we can be pleased with what we achieved. Driving in FP1 is always a huge experience for a driver. Whenever I get the chance to do these sessions, I’m always learning something and every session is important. That’s particularly true here, with these new regulation cars”.
Pierre Wache, Technical Director
“We started this morning with Ayumu in for Max and, once again, he did a great job. He had a lot to get through, with plenty of data to collect from aero testing, and then he tried to provide some direction in terms of set-up for Max. He did a good job with that and we know we can rely on him.
"With Max back in the car this afternoon, we continued the aero tests, just to verify a few things, and I think that went in the right direction. We then had a few issues with the balance on Max’s car, a little bit like in Zandvoort, so we need to try to understand why that is. We have evaluated a few things, so we now have some choices to make and fix the issues for tomorrow through the set-up and car components.
"For Liam, it was another productive day and it was good for him to get more time in the car than he had in practice in Zandvoort. It really helps to have that continuity across sessions and he did a very good job again today.
"We have a lot of work to do tonight to try to close the gap to the top before Qualifying. It’s normally a little tricky for us on one lap and we are better on long runs. So, let’s see tomorrow”.
Racing Bulls
Yuki Tsunoda was once again in at Racing Bulls in place of Lawson, but in the opening session he could not quite get on the pace of his team mate. Arvid Lindblad proved the faster by nearly eight tenths of a second, leaving Tsunoda will plenty of work to do. The Japanese driver was much closer to Lindblad in the second session, beating the rookie on the opening soft tyre runs. Lindblad did sneak back ahead, but it looks like both Racing Bulls cars could be in the mix for Q3 tomorrow.
Arvid Lindblad - FP1: 1:23.802, P7; FP2: 1:23.349, P7
“It’s been a positive Friday here in Monza. It’s pretty cool to drive an F1 car around this circuit, and I think we’ve had two solid sessions today. The team ha ve done a great job, and the car felt good from the very first lap. There are a few things to work on, but overall, I think we are in a good place on both short and long runs. It seems like the tow is particularly powerful here, so I expect Qualifying could get quite interesting. We’ll keep pushing tomorrow and we’ll give everything we have to try and fight our way into Q3 once again.”
Yuki Tsunoda - FP1: 1:24.571, P12; FP2: 1:23.455, P10
“I enjoyed today overall. FP1 was a little messy from my side, and I’ve been struggling a bit with the SM because it is so different compared to last year. There have been a few challenges, but at the same time the day ended up going pretty well, so I’m fai rly happy with where we are. There are still a couple of things to tidy up, but we have a good direction. The delta in energy deployment is there across all the teams, so it will be very important to understand where and when we use the boost in the race. I was able to try a lot of different things today, which has been good learning both for m yself and the team. I’m looking forward to Qualifying tomorrow and seeing where we can place the car.”
Alan Permane, Team Principal
“It’s been a good day, certainly in FP2. We found there was plenty of optimisation to do on both the chassis and the power unit after FP1, so after a few tweaks, we came into FP2 strong. Arvid was absolutely flying on the Mediums in the second session, but we didn’t manage to see where he was on the Softs due to a bit of traffic on his lap. Yuki was super happy on the Softs and made a decent step due to much better rear stability, which gives us a good idea on where to go in terms of set up. We’re closing in on deployment strategies, there’s definitely lap time to be gained in getting it right here, so we’ll continue to look at it overnight as the team runs simulations back in the UK. Quali won’t be straightforward but I’m confident we can make it into Q3 .”
Audi
Gabriel Bortoleto looked quick in FP1, finishing in the top 10 in what looked a very tightly packed midfield. He was quick again in the second session, but his day ended in less than perfect style when he pitted with a power unit issue. Audi opted not to send him back out late on in FP2, so it remains to be seen if that issue can be fixed before FP3 tomorrow. As for Nico Hulkenberg, he was 13th in both sessions and thus needs to analyse the data and see where he can improve if he wants to make a Q3 appearance tomorrow.
Nico Hulkenberg - FP1: 1:24.626, P13; FP2: 1:23.732, P13
"It was a fairly standard Friday overall. FP1 felt quite positive and we got through the programme without any major issues, but in FP2 we seemed to lose a bit of rhythm and pace compared to earlier in the day. We'll need to understand why that was and see what we can improve overnight.
"As always, Friday is about learning and putting the pieces together for the rest of the weekend. We'll go through the data tonight and make sure we take the right conclusions from today."
Gabriel Bortoleto - FP1: 1:24.006, P8; FP2: 1:23.776, P15
"It was a solid first day on track. We went through all of our programme for the day, especially in FP1, and I'm overall happy with the work we've done. We couldn't get much of a run on soft tyres, but we still managed to learn a lot about the car and understand plenty of things that will help us tomorrow. We'll need to put together some really good laps and make the most of the slipstream in qualifying."
Alpine
After Pierre Gasly got the full upgrade package last time out in Zandvoort, Franco Colapinto’s car was fitted with the new parts here and he put them to good use in FP1 to come home in the top 10. Buoyed by his contract news, the Argentine racer looked quick. He was joined by Alpine's rookie driver Aron in the opening session, who also finished in the top 10 but irked a few of his colleagues by weaving around the racing line.
Gasly took a little time to get going in FP2, but Colapinto once again was flirting with the top 10, as Alpine begin to set about getting the better of their Racing Bulls rivals here.
Pierre Gasly - FP2: 1:23.773, P14
“A different Friday for me to normal as I sat out of Free Practice 1 with Paul in my car and it was interesting to see the session from a different perspective. In terms of my session in the car in Free Practice 2, I don't think the leaderboard is an accurate reflection of our actual performance. There is some potential in the car here and I think the battle for the top ten will be close. We'll have a few changes to make to find some improvements, and I am confident we can be in the mix for Q3. Obviously, we received the news of the Monaco Grand Prix result earlier today. I am of course disappointed, but my focus right now is only on this weekend's race and maximising the result.”
Franco Colapinto - FP1: 1:24.028, P9; FP2: 1:23.619, P11
“It's been an interesting day of practice in Monza. The leaderboard has been tight all day so it is clear even the smallest of improvements to the car will make a big difference to our end result. We had a good start to Free Practice 1 on the medium run and we were up there in the top five. Our run on softs was not clean, we had some issues on the car, so we knew more was probably possible in that session. We struggled more in Free Practice 2. I seemed to lack more grip, especially at corner apexes, so we need to understand why. Maybe it was the conditions, it has been very hot all day, so it's important we learn why and see what is going on. I am feeling positive and we will see what we can achieve tomorrow in Qualifying.”
Paul Aron - FP1: 1:24.177, P10
“I am very grateful to the team for today's Free Practice 1 session. We showed good pace and gained valuable data for the team. The President of Estonia came to watch the session as well which was an awesome experience. It was a tricky session with traffic but that is just the nature of Monza. It was not ideal that both of my push laps on softs were impacted by traffic, but the session was all about going through our run plan and test items. Other than losing time for the red flag, we completed most of the programme, the pace looked good and hopefully that can translate for Pierre and Franco going into the rest of the weekend. Now I am back to Enstone for a night on the simulator where the hard work continues!”
Haas
Haas have brought upgrades here, with Oliver Bearman getting both the aero and engine parts, and Esteban Ocon just the aero package. Thus, they spent most of FP1 testing their new components, although Bearman did nearly land himself in hot water once when he came close to losing the rear in the gravel.
In FP2, Bearman showed the potential of those upgrades with a top 10 slot, which raises hopes that Haas have indeed managed to make the jump back into the midfield fight.
Esteban Ocon – FP1: 1:25.852, P18; FP2: 1:24.407, P18
“So yes, it’s obviously good to test the track, you know, with these new 2026 regs. It’s very different to how it was last year, so there’s a lot for us to take onboard from today. Good that the team has brought some new updates for this weekend. I think there’s still a lot of things to look at on our side. Obviously, we’re lacking a bit in some areas, so hopefully we can unlock that pace for tomorrow. But yes, a few issues today – ultimately not the smoothest day, but hopefully that will be enough data to have for tomorrow.”
Oliver Bearman - FP1: 1:24.646, P14; FP2: 1:23.370, P8
“It’s been a good day – really positive. It’s definitely our best Friday – probably since March or April, so that’s really nice, and a big boost for the team. Of course, I got a good position on track and a good tow, and that’s not something we can guarantee come qualifying but the feeling with the car is night and day different, we’ve made a big, big step in that regard. I’m really proud of the team because we were hoping and needing this upgrade to be a step forward and it has been. I’m really proud of the execution of everybody within our team.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“This was obviously a very important Friday because we brought an upgrade package, and from what we know so far, I think it’s delivering in terms of characteristics. It’s exactly what we needed, so full credit to the team that’ve been working on analysing the issues with this car, why the drivers can’t exploit the performance of this car, what’s lacking and so on. I think we got it right; the guys got it right. Of course there are always more areas to improve, but our direction is completely correct. So that’s very good. There’s a big gap between Esteban and Ollie today, but that’s not representative of Esteban either. I mean, as I’ve been transparent before, we have some inconsistency issues, we see some lack of performance on Esteban’s car today, and then we really tried to get to the bottom of it in FP2 but we haven’t, so we need to focus on that because if Ollie can do this and if we can get Esteban up there, we can fight close to the points. That’s our aim tonight.”
Williams
Both Carlos Sainz and Luke Browning cut across the run off area at times in FP1, on a day where grip seemed at a premium in the hot conditions. Browning actually beat his team mate in FP1 to the tune of nearly a tenth of a second. In FP2, Alex Albon returned for Williams and had a relatively quiet session. Neither driver could fight their way up the order though, on what is looking a tricky weekend for the team.
Alex Albon - FP2: 1:23.853, P16
“A short day for me, but it was an okay Friday in the end. We don't have the pace yet, but the car feels like we're moving in a more positive direction. Luke did a good job in FP1 to test some items around the floor, so the car feels like it is in a decent place. I don't think there will be many changes overnight. Given my grid penalty for Sunday, our focus shifts tomorrow to long runs to get ready for hopefully an interesting race."
Carlos Sainz - FP1: 1:24.827, P16; FP2: 1:23.900, P17
"The car felt okay today, despite its limitations. We used both sessions to do a number of interesting tests to help with setup over the weekend. All three tyre compounds worked well for us, with minor difference between them. We'll continue refining our setup and reviewing the data ahead of qualifying tomorrow."
Luke Browning - FP1: 1:24.740, P15
“It was great to be back out in FP1 for the second time this season. I've got some fond memories of this circuit from F2 - winning the feature race and taking pole position here. Today's main job was giving the team feedback and testing some setup options for Alex, which went well and should put him and the team in a good place for the rest of the weekend. As always, I'm very grateful to the team for the opportunity to get back out there in the FW48."
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso had a hairy moment in the first session, running wide and dipping two wheels in the gravel, keeping his foot in for good measure. That wrecked one of his flying laps, with the team winding up down the order. He then spent chunks of FP2 in the pits, with a car issue. Lance Stroll also fell backwards in the second session, so Aston Martin are one team set for late night crunching the numbers to try and find improvements for tomorrow.
Fernando Alonso - FP1: 1:26.072, P21; FP2: 1:25.027, P19
Lance Stroll - FP1: 1:26.066, P20; FP2: 1:25.253, P22
Stroll said:
"It was pretty much as expected today. We still have a lot of areas where we need to improve, particularly with driveability and power.
"The car is not where we want it to be yet, so there's still some work to do. Realistically, it's going to be a difficult weekend for us, but we'll keep working and see what we can do."
Pedro de la Rosa said:
"Today was challenging, but we knew Monza would be difficult for us. We worked through our programme, testing all tyre compounds, aero mapping and both short and long runs to understand tyre degradation.
"Fernando had an electrical issue in the garage which delayed the start of his running in FP2, but Lance was able to complete a solid number of laps and we gathered valuable data. We'll keep working hard to make the most of the weekend."
Cadillac
Colton Herta was in for Sergio Perez at Cadillac in FP1, and he had a reasonably eventful morning. First he crashed heavily in F2, and once he hopped into the Mexican’s car, his luck did not improve. Herta was told to park up with a suspected hydraulic issue and thus did not get much running in. Valtteri Bottas did complete the session, with no obvious reliability gremlins. In FP2, Perez sat out the first few minutes but was able to complete plenty of laps, and just edged his team mate on their flying laps.
Valtteri Bottas - FP1: 1:25.984, P19; FP1: FP2: 1:25.149, P21
“We had some good running today based on the initial numbers we’ve seen. The gaps are smaller here compared to last time out in Zandvoort, so we should have a better chance to fight with Aston Martin. I think we still have the upper hand on the straight. I wasn’t able to capitalise on a proper slipstream today, so I think there’s still some lap time to be found there for Qualifying.”
Sergio Perez - FP2: 1:25.082, P20
“It was a strong outing straight away, which was positive. We still have some ground to make up, particularly for the race, but I think we have a good chance of fighting the Astons. The key now is to maximise qualifying tomorrow and put ourselves in the best possible position for Sunday’s race.”
Colton Herta – FP1: 1:29.922, P22
“Unfortunately, the session was cut short by what we believe was a hydraulic issue, so I would have liked to get more track time. We completed just one push lap before the problem occurred on the cool-down lap. Despite that, every time I get in the car, I learn something and continue adapting to the differences in driving style. I’m really enjoying the challenge, and hopefully we can get back out there soon and make the most of the next opportunity.”
Marc Hynes, Chief Racing Officer
“It was a mixed afternoon for us. Unfortunately, a hydraulic issue on Colton’s car meant he was unable to complete his planned program, and we apologise to him for that. We changed the PU after FP1 for Checo to take over and will conduct an investigation with Ferrari.
“For Valtteri and Checo, it was a relatively clean second session, although there are still some areas we need to work on overnight. We have identified a few ideas to explore ahead of qualifying tomorrow. The conditions were extremely hot, which made it a demanding day for everyone, but we have useful information and will work hard to maximise the package for qualifying.”
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AS IT HAPPENED: FP2 for the Italian GP