First practice session at Monza, Italy. The session has started with Sebastian Vettel at top of the time sheet, but soon Alonso has taken the first place. Lewis Hamilton also had something to say, and set the fastest time of the day.
Heikki Kovalainen has replaced Giedo van der Garde on the Caterham. Rodolfo González has tested the Marussia of Jules Bianchi and James Calado has replaced Adrian Sutil at Force India. The session has been uneventful, just lots of little mistakes of almost all drivers. Mercedes has been the strongest team, with Lewis Hamilton first and Nico Rosberg third, but differences have been very little, the top 10 has been separated by half second. Fernando Alonso has finished second, but he made a mistake on his fastest lap.
| P | Driver | Team | Time | Dif. | Laps |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:25.565 | – | 24 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:25.600 | 0.035 | 25 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:25.704 | 0.139 | 25 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:25.753 | 0.188 | 26 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:25.941 | 0.376 | 22 |
| 6 | Sergio Pérez | McLaren | 1:26.007 | 0.442 | 24 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:26.035 | 0.470 | 23 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1:26.103 | 0.538 | 27 |
| 9 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1:26.149 | 0.584 | 21 |
| 10 | Jean Eric Vergne | STR | 1:16.155 | 0.590 | 25 |
| 11 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | 1:16.194 | 0.629 | 25 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:26.295 | 0.730 | 23 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR | 1:26.387 | 0.822 | 21 |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.449 | 0.884 | 16 |
| 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 1:26.594 | 1.029 | 13 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:26.802 | 1.237 | 21 |
| 17 | James Calado | Force India | 1:27.041 | 1.476 | 24 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 1:27.224 | 1.659 | 16 |
| 19 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 1:27.818 | 2.253 | 24 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1:27.869 | 2.304 | 20 |
| 21 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:28.192 | 2.627 | 21 |
| 22 | Rodolfo González | Marussia | 1:29.526 | 3.961 | 26 |