Lando Norris admitted McLaren’s rivals were “just a bit close for my liking” at Monza with F1 2025’s dominant force appearing braced for a greater challenge from multiple teams – including home favourites Ferrari – at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

​​​​​Norris topped the second practice times at high-speed Monza on Friday but McLaren’s advantage over the field was nowhere near as apparent as at proved at twisty Zandvoort last week.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – whose team-mate Lewis Hamilton had topped a one-two for the team in first practice – and Carlos Sainz in an impressively-fast Williams both finished within a tenth of a second of Norris’ pace.

With championship leader Oscar Piastri fourth, Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were within 0.2s of the top of the timesheet with the rest of the top 10 all within 0.4s.

That led Norris, who has regularly played down McLaren’s larger Friday advantages this season, to quip: “Normally by this point we have like a one-second gap on everyone, but at the moment it’s just a bit close for my liking at the minute.”

He then added: “This is the complete opposite downforce level to Zandvoort.

“In Zandvoort we were just easily quickest and it felt pretty amazing, here it’s quite the opposite. Not a surprise, this is probably what we were expecting, but I definitely think we don’t perform to quite to the same level in these low-downforce conditions as we do when we are at high downforce.

“The competitors catch up, it looks a bit closer and that makes our life a bit trickier. But I think we’re still in a reasonable pace, some small things to improve and we’ll be a bit better.”

Piastri, who leads Norris by 34 points in the standings after the Briton’s car-related retirement last Sunday, admitted he was surprised by just how close the field was

“A little bit, yes,” he said. “I think it was also who was in the mix was a bit of a surprise. The Williams’ looked strong in both sessions so let’s see if they are still there tomorrow but I think it’s going to be a close weekend.”

McLaren have won all-but three of this season’s first 15 grands prix, including the last five in a row.

Penalised Hamilton still ‘optimistic’ as Leclerc sees pole chance

As is often the case at their home track, Ferrari appear right in the hunt at the front as they bid to deliver back-to-back wins at Monza for their passionate fanbase after Leclerc’s 2024 triumph – and a first Grand Prix success of 2025.

The SF-25 immediately looked quick in Monza’s skittish low-downforce conditions with Hamilton marking his Italian GP bow for the home team by leading Leclerc at the top of the Practice One timesheet.

The Briton, who carries a five-place grid penalty into Saturday, slipped to fifth in the afternoon but feels he knows where he went wrong on set-up between sessions.

“P1 was a good session, P2 we made some changes and the car was a bit worse. The good thing is we can go back on it,” he said.

“P1 was very strong and P2 was much more of a struggle but it’s better to have that in P2 and learn from that, rather than P3.

“Lots of positives to take from today and we will do some work overnight and I hope tomorrow we can be better.”

Leclerc, who beat the McLarens in a Ferrari tactical triumph last year, described their car as “tricky but fast”.

And asked if he thought he could contend for pole, Leclerc replied: “For now I think it’s on the cards but I don’t know how much Red Bull and McLaren have pushed just yet.

“I think they have more than what we have in the pocket. We still need to improve the car but, if we do, I think there’s a possibly.”

Hamilton’s sanction for a pre-race yellow-flags infringement at Zandvoort already rules him out of taking pole and means he will start Sunday’s race from no higher than sixth position.

But he still sees reasons for encouragement despite the apparent closeness of the field.

“It will be difficult to overtake because we are all so close within the top 15,” added Hamilton.

“I do feel optimistic, I still feel like I can potentially move forwards and I was much happier with the car today, so I hope that continues tomorrow.”

Sky Sports F1’s Italian GP Schedule

Saturday September 6
8.10am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Italian Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11:30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Italian Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
3pm: ITALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday September 7
7.10am: F3 Feature Race
8.40am: F2 Feature Race
10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up
2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s European season concludes with the Italian Grand Prix – watch the whole Monza weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime