Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Charles Leclerc gives a big wave to the fans as he comes out of the pit lane. He knows what it means to be a Ferrari driver here, but he also knows what it's like to win as a Ferrari driver here. And I'm sure Lewis Hamilton would love to do that.

Piastri: "My right mirror is cracked."

Engineer: "Copy. Are you OK to continue?"

Piastri: "Erm.. yep."

Oscar Piastri has just told his engineer that one of his mirrors is cracked.

He'll be hoping for no bad luck today or indeed this entire weekend as his title bid continues.

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter at Monza

George Russell is just about to go out on to the track on a new set of hard tyres. He had a hydraulics issue at the end of FP1, which has been fixed for FP2, so he should be fine.

Similar to first practice, there was a virtual safety car test just as the lights went green.

However, that's out the way and FP2 is go.

There's a queue of cars out early doors but championship Oscar Piastri - who sat out FP1 earlier with Alex Dunne taking his place in the McLaren hotseat - is first out.

Ferrari showed some impressive pace earlier with Lewis Hamilton topping the leaderboard, followed shortly behind by his team-mate Charles Leclerc for a one-two finish in FP1.

Can they repeat the feat in FP2?

Second practice is under way.

BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator Harry Benjamin has picked out his five things to watch at Monza this weekend, with the help of his commentary partner Alice Powell.

Have a watch of what they are above.

Remember, it's not just our prose you can rely on to keep you across this afternoon's action.

You can follow the across the BBC by listening to second practice live commentary via BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers.

Tune in now.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Monza

Image source, Getty Images

Drivers have reacted in lukewarm fashion to suggestions from F1 president Stefano Domenicali as to ways to ‘modernise’ the sport.

Domenicali used a media session with Italian journalists in the run-up to the Italian Grand Prix to give indications as to the way F1 might be going, but also partly as a kite-flying exercise.

The way it is going is more sprint events, which drivers are relatively accepting of, although Max Verstappen remains an opponent. Domenicali was also asked about the length of races, and he mentioned that they “may be a bit too long for younger audiences”. That’s the kite-flying bit.

That was less popular. Fernando Alonso said this was "a problem of society and the kids”. He added: "Football matches are a little bit long; when I sit in front of the TV, I'm not watching the 90 minutes concentrated. I go to the kitchen, go back, I mean there is always some moments of distraction. But no one is talking about having 60 minute-football matches or something like that.”

Verstappen echoed the general view: “You all know, of course, how I think about sprint races, but the length of the race, it's fine. Sometimes it's one and a half hours, sometimes close to two. In other sports as well, sometimes you have an exciting game, sometimes absolutely boring and you fall asleep. That's sport for you.

“You cannot always make it exciting, because if it's always exciting, it becomes boring too. It always needs to be a surprise. Sometimes it can be surprisingly exciting, sometimes it can be surprisingly boring."

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Leclerc is a popular man around Monza.

The Ferrari driver won here in 2019, his first season with the Prancing Horse, as well as in last season's race at the temple of speed.

A reminder that we go green for second practice at 16:00-17:00 BST.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Monza

Image source, Getty Images

Williams have asked for a right of review into the 10-second penalty Carlos Sainz was given in the Dutch Grand Prix following a collision with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson.

Sainz described the penalty as "ridiculous" during the race at Zandvoort, and on arriving at Monza on Thursday said that he felt the stewards had a different view after he spoke to them following the race.

Williams said in a statement: "It is important for us to understand how to go racing in future, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome."

Spaniard Sainz, who finished 13th at Zandvoort, said: "As soon as they got all the evidence right and they looked at the places they needed to take the right decision, it was clear to me that they realised probably the decision taken wasn't the best one."

Where does Lando Norris stand in the championship fight after his retirement at the Dutch GP?

Can the Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc bounce back at their home race after they both crashed out at Zandvoort?

On the latest edition of the Chequered Flag podcast, Jennie Gow is joined by former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer and the BBC’s F1 correspondent Andrew Benson to look ahead to the Italian GP while Rick Edwards sits down with championship leader Oscar Piastri about his title chances.

Catch up on matters before Monza here.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Monza

Image source, Charles Leclerc Instagram

Lewis Hamilton spent Wednesday at an event in Milan in front of about 7,000 fans, and before that visited the Ferrari factory in Maranello, where fans also gathered outside the gates.

The seven-time world champion said he "still has to pinch myself" about the fact that he is now a Ferrari driver.

He added: "There is clearly so much love for this brand, and to be in Milan in the heart of it all and to see how passionate they all were, it was intense, and I really tried to harness all the positive energy they gave us."

Image source, Getty Images

And so we return.

Hello and welcome back to our coverage of Friday practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

After the misery of their double DNF at the Dutch Grand Prix last week, Ferrari turned their fortunes around earlier as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished one-two in first practice for their home race.

Can they maintain their fine form into FP2?

The next session gets under way very soon.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Monza

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc got Ferrari's home race weekend off to a positive start by finishing one-two in first practice at the Italian Grand Prix.

Briton Hamilton, who has a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race, was 0.169 seconds faster than his team-mate.

Leclerc, who had an incident-packed session, ended it 0.364 seconds clear of Williams driver Carlos Sainz in third place.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth fastest, ahead of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and McLaren's Lando Norris.

Read the full report here , external

Image source, Getty Images

That was an interesting session to start us off at Monza, with the gravel taking centre stage at the famous Italian circuit. We're yet to see the true pace of Lando Norris, as the McLaren man had a few of his soft laps scuppered.

Will this be Ferrari's redemption arc after a miserable outing at the Dutch Grand Prix? First and second is a positive start, but there's a long way to go yet. Same goes for Williams. That third place for Carlos Sainz is certainly eye-catching.

Shall we all go and grab a break and then regroup at 15:45 BST for second practice build-up? Lovely. Hopefully, we'll have an update on what happened with George Russell's Mercedes.

See you shortly!

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI

Image source, Getty Images

It's fair to say that Alex Dunne's F1 session in Monza wasn't as spectacular as his debut in Austria.

But, in truth, that's not necessarily a bad thing. While headline times are great, these sessions are ultimately about learning and he's had more seat time in a different environment.

When you look at the McLarens on lap time, he was only two tenths off Norris for the majority of the session before the championship challenger pumped in a late fast effort, which brought the margin up to half a second.

Ultimately, it was another solid, mistake-free run and that's all you can ask for from a rookie driver.

Now, his focus will switch back to Formula 2 as he looks to fight his way back to the top of the standings.

11. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

12. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

13. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

14. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

15. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

16. Alex Dunne (McLaren)

17. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

18. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

19. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

20. Paul Aaron (Alpine)

1. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 1:1:20.117

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.169

3. Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.533

4. Max Verstapen (Red Bull) +0.575

5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.823

6. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.904

7. Alex Albon (Williams) +0.956

8. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.993

9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.997

10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1.041

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's a very good start for Ferrari and a good start for the Williams of Carlos Sainz. He's half a second shy of Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Antonelli has also had a better free practice one. But Lando Norris is in sixth and nine tenths off.