Formula 1 News: Hamilton tops Practice 2 for the Italian GP

Mercedes veteran Lewis Hamilton turned a lap of 1m20.738s doing a qualifying sim run on soft tires to top Practice 2 for the Italian GP at Monza, half a second slower than last year’s pole.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The red flags were thrown as the session reached its halfway point after Magnussen crashed into the barriers at the second Lesmo, adding to the Haas driver’s woes following a fine for the team due to impeding in FP1.

Winning of the Dutch GP last weekend, Lando Norris was close behind Hamilton, just 0.003s slower in the #4 McLaren.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. was third fastest, 0.103s behind Hamilton.

Oscar Piastri in the 2nd McLaren was 4th, 0.120s behind Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc rounded out the top-5 in the #16 Ferrari, 0.154s behind Hamilton.

Nico Hulkenberg gave Haas something to smile about by setting the seventh-fastest time ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in eighth for RB. The Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll followed in ninth and 10th respectively.

The biggest surprise of the session was Max Verstappen down in 14th, 0.872s behind, but it is believed Red Bull was focussing on race runs. Verstappen was fastest in Practice 1, yet only 14th in Practice 2 after making a mistake on his one qualifying sim lap. His teammate, Sergio Perez was right behind in 15th.

Were they sandbagging or is the Red Bull that slow? It is believed they are not turning their Honda engines all the way up because they are running low on engines for the year. Verstappen has already taken one engine penalty in Spa.

Mercedes veteran Lewis Hamilton turned a lap of 1m20.738s doing a qualifying sim run on soft tires to top Practice 2 for the Italian GP at Monza, half a second slower than last year’s pole.

Who goes into tomorrow as favorite for pole Saturday?

That is very difficult to answer, despite two hours of track time having been completed.

McLaren and Red Bull look quick, but so do Mercedes and Ferrari.

Could there be an eight-way fight for pole tomorrow?

2024 Italian GP Practice 2 Results