Rand Norris narrowly paid Charles Leclerc in his second highly competitive practice session at the Italian Grand Prix.
Norris controlled the session early in the hour as one of the first drivers to undertake a soft-tyre performance run, setting the benchmark at the 1M19.878S. When we set it up for about 30 minutes in a 60-minute session, it was a scary margin. The rival running to his front gradually closed, but Norris’ time was not touched.
Leclerc came closest despite statistics that were unconvincing to his qualified simulations as “no grip at all” and radio after the first lap remained downstream of the top 10.
Carlos Signe again completed the top three, with Williams’ driver continuing his strong form from FP1 to laps of 0.013 than Leclerc.
Oscar Piastri reclaimed his car McLaren junior Alex Dan and took his time to speed up. His first lap on the soft was 0.4s slower than his teammates, but he closed within 0.181 on his second run on the same soft set. Lewis Hamilton was another 0.011S after topping with FP1.
However, if you look at the stewards after the session, after the session, you fail to follow the instructions of the race director regarding garage too early before the session.
Max Verstappen complained that his car was “really twitching, really nervous” early in the hour, but in the soft, he was able to compensate for the more reliable speed from his machine to a 0.199 second lap from Norris, completing the top six of under 0.2 seconds.
Alex Albon continued for the seventh and 0.01 seconds from the pace, but Williams’ driver was lucky to reach one card at the end of the session after the monster snapped over the curb at the second Resmo.
Nico Furkenberg was eighth in Sauber ahead of Yuu Zunodas. He’s improved at 0.391 from the pace, just 0.192 slower than his teammate Verstappen.
George Russell completed the top 10 after suffering from a hydraulic failure at the end of FP1, but confirmed that Mercedes avoided the need to change the gearbox for the stop.
Isack Hadjar was ranked 11th over Gabriel Bortoleto. Gabriel Bortoleto sees the steward after the session, where he overtakes the car under the yellow flag at the start of the session.
Lance Stroll was 13th place after Oliver Baerman, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson and Pierre Guthrie.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s session continued just under ten minutes before the Italian rookie looped over the car that entered the second Resmoturn, with Mercedes beaching the beach with the exit stone. This is the second Friday after a teenager finished a practice session that thrusts into the gravel.
Having regained his car from Paul Aron, Franco Colapinto was the slowest in the session, almost 0.2 seconds away from behind the pack.
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