Charles Leclerc heads Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix practice

Hamilton spoke of his dream to claim a record sixth win at Monza’s Temple of Speed – his first as a Ferrari driver – on the eve of this weekend’s event.

And his Ferrari team, boosted by an engine upgrade, demonstrated an early advantage over their rivals in the opening running of the 13th round.

Leclerc saw off Hamilton’s challenge by 0.173 seconds, while the Monegasque was three tenths quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell who finished third.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, 59 points clear of both Hamilton and Russell in the standings, settled for fifth – a distant 0.636sec behind.

Antonelli, 20, will start his home race from the back of the pack as he serves a grid penalty for taking on a new engine.

Liam Lawson, deputising for Isack Hadjar – who misses a second consecutive race with a wrist injury – split the Mercedes drivers in his Red Bull. New Zealander Lawson was 0.425sec slower than Leclerc.

Lando Norris arrives at Monza as a driver in form following consecutive victories in Hungary and the Netherlands to raise hopes of defending his world title crown.

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The Englishman, 83 points behind Antonelli, finished sixth, 0.711 sec off the leading pace.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was among a number of drivers stood down for the first session as the teams rotated their line-ups to fulfil their rookie obligations.

Estonian driver Paul Aron finished as the leading youngster in 10th for Alpine. Verstappen’s replacement Ayumu Iwasa ended up 17th of the 22 drivers.

Verstappen will be back in his Red Bull for second practice which begins at 4pm local time (1500 BST).