Lewis Hamilton led a Ferrari one-two on home soil in opening practice for Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix.

Ferrari is hoping to repeat its 2024 victory this weekend, which would provide the perfect bounce-back after a disastrous double DNF at Zandvoort.

Hamilton already started this weekend on the back foot with a five-place grid penalty issued to him for a pre-race infringement at Zandvoort.

More on Hamilton's penalty from Zandvoort

Hamilton on shocking penalty, 'volatile' year and crash findings
Hamilton gets Monza grid penalty for unusual pre-race yellow flag offence

He said on Thursday that he’d be open to sacrificing an optimal Q3 if necessary to help Leclerc get pole, given Hamilton has a penalty.

But the Ferraris started strongly on Friday with Hamilton topping the session on a 1m20.117s, 0.169s faster than team-mate Leclerc.

Leclerc was investigated for passing Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber under the sole red flag of FP1, but it was quickly decided that no further action was warranted.

That red flag was necessitated by Isack Hadjar running his Racing Bulls into the gravel at the Ascari chicane, dragging the gravel onto the track, which needed clearing.

Thereafter, first Leclerc, then Hamilton sent Ferrari to the top of the timesheets, with Carlos Sainz’s Williams a strong third.

Williams appears to be the midfield team most likely to trouble F1’s top four teams this weekend, with strong pace shown throughout FP1.

Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was fourth ahead of Kimi Antonelli, one year on from making his (brief) FP1 debut at Monza last year.

Lando Norris was sixth ahead of Alex Albon and George Russell, whose Mercedes ground to a halt just before the second chicane.