The fallout from Kimi Antonelli’s crash in FP1 was still being felt with the repairs to the Mercedes still not complete at the start of FP2, leaving George Russell stuck in the pits watching and waiting.
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Early Running
The first part of the running at the Italian GP had Lando Norris in the top spot with a 1:21.605, ahead of Hamilton in the Mercedes and Oscar Piastri. Franco Colapinto had a solid and steady first part of the session, the rookie is playing it smart, just getting the laps in and learning as he goes.
The majority of the field used the Medium compound tyre while running their initial runs, Danny Ricciardo went out on a set of softs 15 minutes into the session.
The tifosi were treated to a front row lockout after Leclerc and Sainz took first and second receptively.
Half Way Through-Red Flag
As the session passed through the half mark, the session had it’s first red flag of the session, after Magnussen found the barrier, locking up his rears at the second Lesmo. The crash was very similar to Kimi Antonelli’s accident in FP1
Re-Start
The session was finally re-started with 17 minutes remaining, the now traditional queue of cars left the pit lane to get out and gather the all important data.
George Russell was out in the mediums, the Mercedes driver lost some time while waiting for repairs to the car aft the crash in FP1.
Into the last 10 minutes of the session the top three were, Hamilton, Norris and Sainz. Max Verstappen was sitting 13th with Perez in 14th.
Russell had came out on to the track but didn’t really push the car and sat last of the runners 3.480 seconds behind the front runners, it was clear that the British driver was on a different plan from the rest of the field.
The session was not overly dramatic, however it has highlighted that the chase for pole will be close with Mercedes, Ferrar, Redbull and McLaren all having the pace that could allow them to take pole tomorrow.
Can Lewis Hamilton steal the pole at the Italian GP from the chasing pack? or will McLaren continue to cement themselves as front runners in F1.