Monza gearing up for Hamilton in Ferrari red at the Italian GP

There’s an added air of excitement among the passionate, red-clad tifosi at the Italian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton is preparing to make his Monza debut in a Ferrari.

It will be Hamilton’s 19th race at the high-speed Italian track, but his first in red. His weekend got off to a great start when the British driver was fastest in Friday’s first practice, and both Ferraris showed pace in the second session, too.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton has stood on the iconic Monza podium eight times, five of those after winning the Italian GP.

But Hamilton — who hasn’t finished higher than fourth in a difficult first year with the Italian Scuderia — is not thinking about what it would be like to do so clad in Ferrari red.

“I haven’t (thought about it), simply because I’ve been on the podium plenty of times here, so I know what it’s like to be up there,” Hamilton said. “I’ve seen how it’s been for other Ferrari drivers, and anything I try to imagine will be far from what that feeling could be.”

Hamilton will have to serve a five-place grid penalty at Sunday’s race as Ferrari looks to rebound from a disastrous Dutch GP that saw both he and teammate Charles Leclerc crash out in separate incidents.

“I’m still in my first year with the team, and so every weekend is the first time driving this car at that track,” Hamilton said. “ They won here last year with a great strategy and a great drive from Charles.

“I’m really keen to see how the car works here. We’re definitely learning from weekend to weekend, loads of positives to take from the last, so I think we just have to keep building on that.”

While the red of Ferrari will dominate the grandstands, two papaya-colored cars will take center stage in the title fight.

McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are battling each other for what would be a first Formula 1 title for either.

Norris' title chances diminished dramatically at last weekend’s Dutch GP after his McLaren broke down while he was chasing Piastri, who went on to win the race and extend his lead in the drivers’ championship to 34 points.

“I don’t think much will change,” Piastri said. “He’s certainly not out of the fight. Yes, it’s a bit more difficult now but I don’t expect much to change. I think we’ll race each other the same way, the amount of risks we’re taking will be the same.

“We’re both trying to drive as fast as we can, it’s not like we’ve been holding anything back from that side of things.”

Hamilton had the crowd on its feet when he jumped to the top of the timesheets towards the end of the first practice session, going 0.169 seconds quicker than Leclerc for a Ferrari one-two that will have the tifosi dreaming of similar on Sunday.

None of the other drivers were within half a second of Hamilton. Norris was nearly a second slower — in sixth — and Piastri sat out the session, with rookie Alex Dunne taking over his McLaren.

Norris topped the second practice session, but was just 0.083 ahead of Leclerc and 0.096 faster than Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jr., with less than two tenths of a second separating the top six drivers.

Piastri was 0.181 slower than his teammate and title rival, just ahead of Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

There was more misery at Monza for Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, who had a tough introduction last year as he crashed 10 minutes into his first F1 practice session for Mercedes.

Antonelli was fifth fastest in the first practice on Friday and spun off into the gravel early in the second session.

F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali recently suggested radical changes could be made to race weekends to attract younger audiences.

The most drastic of those could be shortening the actual races.

“I will be on the other side, I will be in front of the TV when that happens,” 44-year-old Fernando Alonso said. “I don’t think it’s a problem with the sport. Also, football matches are a little bit long … and no one is talking about having 60-minute football matches or something like that.

“So it’s a problem of society and the kids, but not the sport. So probably it’s not needed, the change.”

Domenicali said that packing the calendar with more sprint races could also be an option. He claimed most drivers are in favor with even four-time champion Verstappen, who has been among the most vocal critics of the sprint format, coming round to the idea.

However, Verstappen said on Thursday that his mindset hadn’t really changed.

“I mean you all know what I think about sprint races,” he said. “But the length of the race I think 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.

“Yes, I see the positive (about sprint races) — people are making more money … But F1 has been like this since the 50s. I understand that sports evolve and stuff like that, but we shouldn’t go too crazy. I think the sprint race is already, from my side, crazy enough.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the second free practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco prepares for the first free practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain walks through the pits before the first free practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia celebrtaes after winningthe Formula One Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, Netherlands, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car after a pit service during the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix race at the Zandvoort racetrack in Zandvoort, Netherlands, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post, Pool)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, right, and his teammate Charles Leclerc of Monaco, wave to fans from a balcony on the occasion of a sponsor event in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain arrives at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain gestures during a news conference at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

ROME (AP) — Italy's soccer federation president resigned amid political pressure on Thursday, two days after the national team failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

Gabriele Gravina's decision will likely lead to the ouster of Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso, too.

Italy Sports Minister Andrea Abodi called for a change in the country’s soccer leadership after Gravina oversaw two sets of disappointing World Cup qualifiers.

“It’s evident to everyone that Italian soccer needs to be overhauled,” Abodi said on Wednesday, “and that process needs to start with new leadership at the FIGC (federation).”

Italy’s chances of reaching this year’s tournament in North America ended on Tuesday after a penalty shootout loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff.

Gravina took charge of the federation in 2018 replacing Carlo Tavecchio, who also stepped down after Italy failed to reach that year’s World Cup.

The defeat to Bosnia added more misery for four-time champion Italy after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.

Italy’s World Cup struggles go back all the way to 2010 and 2014 when it failed to advance from its group on both occasions.

The Azzurri’s last World Cup knockout match was in 2006 when they won the title by beating France in the final after a penalty shootout.

Gravina did oversee Italy’s European Championship trophy in 2021.

“Soccer has been in trouble since 2006,” Italian coaches association president Renzo Ulivieri said.

Players’ association president Umberto Calcagno said new regulations promoting the use of more Italian players in Serie A were necessary: “A rapid change needs to be made."

An election was called for June 22 to elect a new FIGC president.

Gravina also announced that he would attend a hearing in Italy’s parliament next Wednesday to discuss “the wellbeing of Italian soccer.”

Gattuso took over from the fired Luciano Spalletti in June with the squad already in crisis mode following a defeat at Norway in its opening qualifier.

The Azzurri then went on a six-match winning streak before losing again to Norway in November to finish second in their group and end up in the playoffs again.

Among those being mentioned to replace Gattuso are Roberto Mancini, Simone Inzaghi, Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri.

Mancini coached Italy to the European Championship title in 2021 then failed to get the Azzurri to the next year’s World Cup before bolting to take over Saudi Arabia’s national team.

Inzaghi coached Inter Milan to the Serie A title in 2024 and now manages Saudi club Al-Hilal.

Conte coached Italy at the 2016 European Championship and is currently at Napoli.

Allegri is at AC Milan.

Gravina is also Aleksander Ceferin’s top vice president at UEFA.

UEFA statutes require that executive committee members are also senior FA officials but Gravina could stay in the UEFA role as a lame duck as long as the FIGC’s new leadership doesn’t demand his removal.

Gravina was re-elected last year by UEFA so he has three more years in his current term.

“Gabriele is my first vice president and is very important to me,” Ceferin said in Thursday’s Gazzetta dello Sport after attending the playoff in Bosnia.

Besides revitalizing the national team, whoever replaces Gravina will be tasked with getting Italy’s dilapidated stadiums ready to host the 2032 European Championship.

Italy is slated to co-host Euro 2032 with Turkey.

“I hope that the infrastructure is ready,” Ceferin said. “Otherwise the tournament won’t be played in Italy.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - A journalist stands at the entrance of the FIGC Italian Soccer Federation, where a logo with four stars (one for each World Cup won) is seen partly in the shade, in Rome, on Nov. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

Italy players react during a penalty shootout during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A broken soccer ball is pictured on a street in Rome, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italy's Gianluigi Donnarumma walks off the pitch after losing in a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's coach Gennaro Gattuso walks off the pitch after losing in a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Italy players react after losing in a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)