George Russell led the second free practice of the Formula 1 Italian GP. In the session held on the afternoon of this Friday (4), the Mercedes driver recorded a time of 1min22s559 to finish the day in first place.
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Who finished in second place on the timing sheet was Charles Leclerc, 0.120 seconds behind the leader. Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton completed the top five positions in Monza.
The drivers return to the track this Saturday, the 5th, for the third free practice at 7:30 AM Brasília time.
Find out how the second free practice of the F1 Italian GP went:
Stopwatch started in Monza and the second free practice released. Four drivers were back after giving their cars to rookies in FP1: Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Alexander Albon, and Pierre Gasly.
Almost five minutes in and the drivers began to complete their installation laps. Gabriel Bortoleto appeared in first, then Liam Lawson, Oscar Piastri, and subsequently Charles Leclerc to the delight of the home crowd.
At this first moment, the tire choices were quite mixed between mediums and hards, with only Lance Stroll diverging and going out on the soft compound.
Ten minutes completed at the Temple of Speed and Kimi Antonelli, the home driver who already needs to serve a penalty, was in first place on hard tires with a time of 1min23s417. George Russell, Leclerc, Arvid Lindblad, and Lewis Hamilton completed the top five.
After more than 15 minutes run, only one driver had not yet set a time: Fernando Alonso. The driver was finally on his warm-up lap – among those with a lap done, Checo was last, more than 4 seconds behind leader Antonelli.
Soon after, a scare involving the other Aston Martin, Lance Stroll. The Canadian was leaving the pits and Lando Norris had to go onto the grass to avoid a collision, saying “it’s dangerous” on the radio.
With more than 40 minutes remaining on the clock, Russell was the fastest at the moment with a time of 1min23s202, with Antonelli, Lindblad, Leclerc, and Liam Lawson completing the top five. Gabriel Bortoleto was in seventh position.
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A few minutes later, almost everyone went to the pits, leaving only Russell, Lawson, and Alonso on the track.
The competitors were back on the track and the vast majority chose to put on the soft tire now. Leclerc was in front with 1min22s679, with Russell second just 0.007 seconds slower than the Monegasque. Antonelli, Hamilton, and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top five positions.
When Bortoleto was on his first fast lap with the soft tire, he made a mistake and went off track, aborting the attempt. At that moment, he was in 14th place and was instructed to do two slow laps for another fast one.
Who was unhappy during the session was Verstappen. Appearing only eighth, 0.818 seconds behind leader Russell, he was complaining the entire time about his car.
Approaching the end of the session, with everyone on soft tires, the British Mercedes driver was still the fastest, 0.120 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Antonelli, Norris, and Hamilton closed out the top five. Bortoleto could not improve his time and was only 15th.
Fernando Alonso was the driver with the fewest laps on track with four minutes to the checkered flag, having completed only 14 laps during the entire session.
And Verstappen complained again about the RB22 on the radio, saying the car was bouncing a lot, especially at the front when hitting the curbs. At that moment, Gasly had a scare and went off track but avoided a worse accident.
Free practice ended and Mercedes finished on top with Russell. Leclerc and Antonelli completed the top 3, with Bortoleto only 15th. Also, the British driver took the opportunity to tell the team to keep an eye on the front suspension as it had a vibration.
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