Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

The fact that everyone is using soft tyres so much this session, they may not want to use it for the race. This may indicate where teams are leaning in their strategy and, as I said earlier, they will be wanting to do a one-stop if they can this weekend, and they will obviously only be able to use medium or hard tyres.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Williams have made conspicuous progress this season and lie fifth in the constructors’ championship after the first six races. Team principal James Vowles has always said his main focus is on 2026, and the new rules that are being introduced, but he said their better form this season was a consequence of restructuring changes he had put in place for that.

"It's a reflection on the organisation that we've actually got some foundations in place that, even though this isn't a car we focused on, and even though we took it out the wind tunnel really early last year, we were able to fix some of the core problems with it and move it forward in a coherent way whilst not losing focus on ’26," Vowles said

"The whole priority has been ’26, making sure we had designs ready, making sure that on the 2nd January that was in the wind tunnel, making sure that we had no distractions towards it.

"What I'm driven by is KPIs underneath of what's our dev rate, how we're working together, what's our communication, how long does it take to get parts to track, how heavy is everything, is it on quality, is it on time, is it on budget? And all of those are moving in the right direction.

"I know that doesn't sound exciting, but this car is a product of just fixing some basics."

The Alpine of Pierre Gasly is looking in decent shape in this first practice session. His new team-mate Franco Colapinto is down in 18th place and is going through some bits and bobs in garage.

Lewis Hamilton is struggling in the Ferrari and tells his pit wall the car doesn't want to stop. The seven-time world champion banks his quick lap on the C6 soft tyre and moves up to fourth on the leaderboard.

Lando Norris has also put down a marker on the red-banded compound but he's 0.032 seconds shy of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri's top time.

Image source, Reuters

"I got a tear off, I think under my flap, rear wing flap."

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 1:16.545

2. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.054

3. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +0.151

4. Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.322

5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.360

"Lots of bottoming and plank wear from Kimi, exit Turn Four, entry Turn Five."

Carlos Sainz has been working his luscious hair hard at the Cannes Film Festival this week. The Spaniard is back in the car now, though, race helmet on, and is running in the top three on the soft compound with a 1:16.867.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri is the next driver to have a crack at George Russell's top time. The Australian is a shade quicker than the Mercedes on the C6 rubber by 0.054 seconds and shoots to the top of the timesheets.

Image source, Reuters

"The screen is just too small. There is no difference like less than a mil."

The race helmet gremlins are not going away for Charles Leclerc. He's back on the radio to say things haven't improved and they're "horrible", so he heads back to the Ferrari garage to do a swap.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, is out on track in front of the tifosi in red for the first time this season. He reaches the Variante Alta chicane but has to bail out and cut some Italian grass instead.

Image source, Reuters

Kimi Antonelli, sprint polesitter in Miami, has been celebrating this week after Bologna beat AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final. The teenager said he was sensible and didn't get too carried away with the party atmosphere. His opening flyer on the soft C6 sees him 0.495 seconds off the pace of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, so he goes third on the timesheets.

Splitting the Silver Arrows drivers is Pierre Gasly, who has clocked a 1:16.907 on the medium tyre.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It was a good clean lap from George Russell. He is a bit of an unsung hero, always there or thereabouts. In qualifying, he's always in a good spot on the grid gathering up points. He's doing everything he can to be in touching distance.

Image source, FIA

Eight teams are updated for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, including the top four of McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.

McLaren

Rear corner, rear wing, beam wing, front suspension.

Ferrari

Rear corner, rear wing, beam wing.

Red Bull

Engine cover, rear suspension, rear corner.

Mercedes

Front suspension, front wing, engine cover.

Racing Bulls

Floor body, engine cover.

Haas

Floor body, floor edge, diffuser, rear corner, rear suspension.

Alpine

Front wing, engine cover.

Aston Martin

Halo, floor body, floor fences, floor edge, diffuser, engine cover, beam wing.

George Russell is purple in the first and middle sector - can he make it a clean sweep? He can. The Mercedes driver beats Lando Norris' quickest time by over half a second on the C6 soft tyre to lead the field after 39 minutes of this opening practice session.

"I've got so much lift at the point into turn one. Is it a quick one to put a little shield or whatever?"

Charles Leclerc is having race helmet issues, telling his Ferrari pit wall he is experiencing some uncomfortable lifting of his visor around the first corner. The Monegasque driver is having a bit of a rough start to the weekend, as he ran through the gravel around Variante Alta.

Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto knows this circuit well and pops up with a 1:17.548 on the medium compound to sit second behind Lando Norris.

Lewis Hamilton is racing in Italy as a Ferrari driver for the first time this weekend but it is perhaps not as joyous an occasion as it could have been, given the Scuderia's mixed form so far in 2025.

The seven-time world champion says he has to "remind himself" that he has won more than "any other driver in history", after facing criticism for his start with the team.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

This is a potentially critical weekend for Aston Martin. They have significant upgrades on the car - a new floor and top bodywork. Team principal Andy Cowell says they hope they will provide “improved load and improved consistency of that load”. The parts are a key test of the revised technical structure as the story of Aston Martin’s last two years has been a progressive slump through each season as upgrades have consistently not performed as expected.

This year’s car has been a significant disappointment - it has not delivered what Aston Martin hoped for in terms of performance. And with Adrian Newey now installed as managing technical partner, the team need to build trust in their tools as they seek to make a major step forward with the new rules next year.

Although Aston Martin have previously said Newey’s focus is on 2026, he admitted in an interview published on the team’s website this week that he has had some involvement in this year’s car.

“(Team owner) Lawrence (Stroll) understandably wants us to do as well as we can in 2025 so there's a small team still working on this year's car from an aerodynamics point of view," Newey said. "I've had a few lunchtime conversations with that small group, discussing the car and what we can do about it."

The top times are changing hands quickly not as the track continues to evolve. Fernando Alonso in the upgraded Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly for Alpine have both has stints in P1 but it's Lando Norris who goes fastest overall on the new C6 soft rubber with a 1:17.491.

Mercedes' George Russell is just 0.070 seconds behind the McLaren man in second place.

"Check the ride height. I'm bottoming so much on the straight it's like crazy. I cannot even keep my head straight."

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's one of those difficult situation from a human perspective. Jack Doohan was a less extreme version than the Liam Lawson situation. He didn't have long to show what he can do.

Franco Colapinto knew there wasn't a seat available for him at Williams. At Alpine there's a different level of pressure because in reality if he does a good job, there is a race seat available and that changes things.