Rand Norris led the final Italian Grand Prix practice session before Charles Leclerc, with McLaren and Ferrari drivers separated in under 0.1 seconds in their second session.
Norris rocketed the top spot on his first run with soft tires, setting the benchmark for the 1M19.331S. Meanwhile, Leclerc made his first run with soft. He dipped the left rear wheels into gravel and left the second Resmoturn, which was necessary to save on a massive snap. He continued his rap, but clearly there was time left at the table. A second attempt with used software recovered him to second place, which he held in FP2, reducing his 0.083S deficit on Friday to just 0.021S.
As of Friday, Ferrari had dropped the straights all the way down. Leclerc was over 0.3 seconds faster than Norris in the first sector, but Britton returned it all, pinching the top spot by the end of time through one of the few high-speed corners of the track.
On his first lap, Norris was closely followed by his teammate Oscar Piastri. Most of the differences have passed through two Resmo corners in the mid-sector where Norris was a faster McLaren throughout the weekend.
Both drivers embarked on their second tour of used software. Piastri reduced the deficit to 0.165 seconds, but Norris couldn’t improve, but even his slow lap was faster than Piastri’s new best, although only 0.004s.
Max Verstappen first split the McLaren driver after the first run after Piastri improvements hit him. Dutchman embarked on the second lap at the end of time and improved, but was not enough to overhaul the piastry again, taking over the Australian in just 0.002 seconds.
George Russell completed the top five with Mercedes’ most compelling performances over the weekend so far. The Mercedes driver was 0.184 seconds slower than Norris, but faster than most of the rest of the final sector.
Gabriel Boltreto was a great sixth for Sauber, with the Ferrari engine car matching the Ferrari Works team, making the straights in the opening sector faster and faster. He was in front of Lewis Hamilton, 0.227 seconds from the top spot, and he had disappeared into his scar-colored Scuderia car on his second lap.
Britton led Leclair after his first lap, but was unable to maintain his pace. He needed the team “some more juice… more speed” and finished the session on radio on his team from 0.267 seconds.
Isack Hadjar completed the top 8, just over 0.272 with a powerful show from Racing Bulls, but the Frenchman sees the steward after the session running at Roggia Chicane and does not rejoin the designated part of the exit.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli recovered from losing almost everything in his FP2.
Alex Albon was No. 10th in Williams and 0.389 from Norris’ benchmark on Comedown from Williams’ Friday optimism. The UK team is struggling to light the tires just like they did on Saturday 24 hours ago.
Nico Furkenberg was 11th ahead of Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto.
Tsunoda was 15th in front of Liam Lawson, 0.728 seconds from a 0.728-second pace, with the left side of the floor running wildly over the curb or onto the Loggia Chicane gravel.
Oliver Baerman placed 17th at the bottom of the order, with Pierre Guthrie, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon.
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