Monza Practice 2: Mercedes again dominates with superior engine

Mercedes used up all 7 of their remaining engine development tokens for 2015 on their Monza engine to ensure the German brand embarrasses Ferrari in front of their home town crowd. And it's working. Lewis Hamilton again held the edge over teammate Nico Rosberg as their team remained dominant in second Italian Grand Prix practice at Monza despite sandbagging.

Although the gap from the fastest Mercedes time to best-of-the-rest Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari in third came down from the morning's 1.5-second separation, to seven tenths, everyone in the paddock knows Mercedes is just toying with them at this point.

Hamilton was 0.021s up on Rosberg as both drivers turned nearly identical laps. When the car is 99.9% of the equation, the gap between drivers is usually nil. In other words any driver can be fast in the Mercedes.

Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen ended up third and sixth, split by the Mercedes-powered Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, just like in the morning but reversed.

The Ferraris were the only non-Mercedes-powered cars in the top 10, as Lotus pair Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado led Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in seventh through 10th places.

Results

Pos Driver Car Behind Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.000s 27
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0.021s 35
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 0.759s 36
4 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 0.999s 34
5 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1.046s 43
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.101s 39
7 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1.218s 41
8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1.234s 41
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1.368s 34
10 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1.612s 31
11 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1.835s 30
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1.854s 32
13 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1.943s 27
14 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 2.175s 38
15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 2.362s 50
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 2.687s 31
17 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 3.922s 29
18 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 4.160s 27
19 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 4.192s 3
20 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 4.444s 28