  We report the first results of an XMM-Newton monitoring campaign of the NGC
6231 open cluster in the Sco OB1 association. This first paper focuses on the
massive colliding wind binary HD 152248, which is the brightest X-ray source of
the cluster. The campaign, with a total duration of 180 ksec, was split into
six separate observations, following the orbital motion of HD 152248. The X-ray
flux from this system presents a clear, asymmetric modulation with the phase
and ranges from 0.73 to 1.18 10-12 erg s-1 cm-2 in the [0.5-10.0 keV] energy
band. The maximum of the emission is reached slightly after apastron. The EPIC
spectra are quite soft and peak around 0.8-0.9 keV. We characterize their shape
using several combinations of mekal models and power-law spectra and we detect
significant spectral variability in the [0.5-2.5 keV] energy band. We also
perform 2-D hydrodynamical simulations using different sets of parameters that
closely reproduce the physical and orbital configuration of the HD 152248
system at the time of the six XMM-Newton pointings. This allows a direct
confrontation of the model predictions with the constraints deduced from the
X-ray observations of the system. We show that the observed variation of the
flux can be explained by a variation of the X-ray emission from the colliding
wind zone, diluted by the softer X-ray contribution of the two O-type stars of
the system. Our simulations also reveal that the interaction region of HD
152248 should be highly unstable, giving rise to shells of dense gas that are
separated by low density regions. Finally, we perform a search for short-term
variability in the light curves of the system and we show that trends are
present within several of the 30 ksec exposures of our campaign. Further, most
of these trends are in good .
