Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) a réalisé le tour le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais libres du Grand Prix d’Italie. Jenson Button (McLaren) a fait le 2e temps, suive ensuite Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) et Mark Webber (Red Bull). Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) est 7e, Felipe Massa est 8e.
| 1 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:23.865 | 18 | |
| 2 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.786 | 0.921 | 19 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:25.231 | 1.366 | 25 |
| 4 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:25.459 | 1.594 | 24 |
| 5 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:26.550 | 2.685 | 23 |
| 6 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:26.625 | 2.760 | 20 |
| 7 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.647 | 2.782 | 20 |
| 8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.676 | 2.811 | 24 |
| 9 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:26.694 | 2.829 | 28 |
| 10 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:26.696 | 2.831 | 15 |
| 11 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:26.699 | 2.834 | 21 |
| 12 | 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:26.826 | 2.961 | 21 |
| 13 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:26.836 | 2.971 | 25 |
| 14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:26.996 | 3.131 | 29 |
| 15 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:27.365 | 3.500 | 25 |
| 16 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:27.385 | 3.520 | 23 |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:27.433 | 3.568 | 25 |
| 18 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:27.492 | 3.627 | 24 |
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:29.539 | 5.674 | 10 |
| 20 | 21 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus-Renault | 1:30.148 | 6.283 | 19 |
| 21 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:30.609 | 6.744 | 27 |
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:30.619 | 6.754 | 24 |
| 23 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:31.052 | 7.187 | 12 |
| 24 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:31.899 | 8.034 | 22 |