Lewis Hamilton emerged as the fastest runner in Monza's temple of speed in the first free practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton concluded his morning of work in Italy with a blistering 1:21.537, keeping his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas at a fair distance of 0.435s.
It was team formation all the way back to P8 but Mercedes' advantage over arch-rival Ferrari was over one second while Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were separated by just 0.037s.
Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen also flew in formation for Red Bull in fifth and sixth, followed by the competitive but reined in Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.
Stoffel Vandoorne brought glimmers of hope to McLaren and Honda with a P9 performance and Felipe Massa closed off the top ten standings for Williams.
Rain was an ever-present threat throughout the session, enticing drivers to take to the track early on although ultimately only sporadic drizzles fell from the skies.
Adverse weather is still on its way however and could affect the afternoon session.
Italian Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:21.537s | 28 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:21.972s | + 0.435s | 31 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.652s | + 1.115s | 24 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:22.689s | + 1.152s | 28 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:22.742s | + 1.205s | 28 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:22.749s | + 1.212s | 23 |
| 7 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:23.317s | + 1.780s | 36 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:23.400s | + 1.863s | 34 |
| 9 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:23.465s | + 1.928s | 24 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:23.561s | + 2.024s | 37 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:23.680s | + 2.143s | 22 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:23.973s | + 2.436s | 22 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:23.991s | + 2.454s | 30 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:24.012s | + 2.475s | 27 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:24.015s | + 2.478s | 17 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:24.079s | + 2.542s | 22 |
| 17 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:24.542s | + 3.005s | 17 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:25.166s | + 3.629s | 21 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1:25.223s | + 3.686s | 26 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:25.687s | + 4.150s | 17 |
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