Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Mercedes Still in Front

The session begins under a blue sky. Conditions are warm with 27°C in the air and 44°C on the track. Note that the weather forecast for the race is expected to be fair.

George Russell was back behind the wheel of the FW42 after giving up his car to the team’s reserve driver Roy Nissany on Friday morning during FP1.

You have to wait five minutes to finally see drivers taking to the track. It’s Kimi Räikkönen and the Haas team who start. After a lock-up under braking, Romain Grosjean goes through the escape road at the first chicane.

After 20 minutes of running, it’s Pierre Gasly who is the fastest in his AlphaTauri. The Mercedes quickly climb to the top of the timesheets with Hamilton setting the best time at 1:20.645 on medium tires (yellow). Bottas is behind by 0.2 on hard tires (white).

The Ferrari drivers regained some form during this session with a 9th-fastest time by Charles Leclerc and a 12th position for his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Note that Sebastian Vettel was nonetheless the victim of a spin in the final minutes of the session.

The four-time F1 world champion lost the rear of his SF1000 at the exit of the first Lesmo. The German managed to regain control of his car and thus avoid a hard impact against the TecPro barriers.

A few minutes later, it is Leclerc who goes off into the gravel before rejoining the track and commenting on the radio: « The car is so difficult to drive. »

After more than an hour of the session, the soft tires (red) are out and drivers taking advantage of the slipstream effect are starting to improve their times.

The Mercedes improve the best time again, first Bottas with 1:20.454 then Hamilton with 1:20.192. Daniel Ricciardo completed a fast lap in 1:20.905 before his time was canceled by the stewards for exceeding track limits at the Parabolica.

During the last minutes of the session, Pierre Gasly complains to his engineer, his car seems to be bouncing at the rear, he returns to the pits to check.

Lando Norris takes advantage of his soft tires to claim 3rd place, eight tenths behind Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly (+0.929), Max Verstappen (+1.036), Carlos Sainz (+1.121), Daniil Kvyat (+1.184), Lance Stroll (+1.197), Charles Leclerc (+1.311) and Sergio Perez (+1.402) complete the top ten of this second free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix.

Teams are still allowed to run with different engine modes this Friday. Therefore, the practice session standings are not necessarily representative of what could happen during the qualifying session.

FP2 Standings