George Russell beat Charles Leclerc to the fastest time of second practice at the Italian Grand Prix as Mercedes responded to Ferrari’s early pace at Monza. At an event in which championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli will start at the back of Sunday’s grid owing to engine-change penalties, Russell has a big chance to eat into the Italian’s 59-point advantage if he can deliver a strong race weekend. Ferrari had finished first and second quickest in opening practice as they debuted an upgraded engine but Russell was the driver to beat in the second session amid continued sweltering temperatures in northern Italy. The Briton set a quickest lap of 1:22.559 to outpace Leclerc – who had a late spin – by 0.120s and Antonelli by 0.141s.
Lewis Hamilton, second fastest in the earlier running, slipped to fifth behind McLaren’s Lando Norris during a session which included the Ferrari running straight on at the first chicane. Norris has won the last two races but McLaren are expecting Monza’s straights and slow chicanes to prove more challenging for their car. Fourth-fastest Norris was 0.384s off the second-practice pace with Oscar Piastri a further tenth behind in sixth. Max Verstappen returned after sitting out the first session for Red Bull rookie Ayumu Iwasa but the Dutchman was unhappy with his RB22’s balance and was only able to set the ninth-fastest time.
Stand-in team-mate Liam Lawson was 12th. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad was the leading Red Bull-owned car in seventh place, with Haas’ Oliver Bearman eighth in an upgraded VF-26 car. Saturday September 58.25am: F3 Sprint11.15am: Italian Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11:30am)1.10pm: F2 Sprint2.15pm: Italian Grand Prix Qualifying build-up3pm: ITALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook Sunday September 67.10am: F3 Feature Race8.40am: F2 Feature Race10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction5pm: Ted’s Notebook Formula 1 is at Monza for Ferrari’s home race at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1.
