FP2: Norris leads Leclerc and Sainz during second practice at Monza

Lando Norris put McLaren at the top of the timesheets during Friday’s second practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, leading the way from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Carlos Sainz – while home driver Kimi Antonelli spun out early on.

After Lewis Hamilton led a Ferrari 1-2 in first practice, to the delight of the passionate Tifosi packing Monza’s grandstands and grass banks, drivers and teams returned to the track for another hour of running on Friday afternoon – FP2 getting under way at 1700 local time.

All 20 cars were quick to emerge from their garages when the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane, with Oscar Piastri reclaiming his McLaren from F2 racer Alex Dunne and Franco Colapinto taking his Alpine back from reserve Paul Aron following their FP1 outings.

Despite a cracked mirror, Piastri posted the fastest time of the opening minutes with a 1m 21.212s, before team mate Norris (who had coincidentally lost one of his mirrors altogether) lowered the benchmark to a 1m 21.012s – both drivers initially running medium tyres.

Drama then ensued when Alpine driver Pierre Gasly went too deep entering the Ascari chicane, ran through the gravel and littered stones over the track, before Antonelli lost control of his Mercedes through Lesmo 2, beached it at the exit and caused a red flag.

A brief stoppage followed as marshals cleared Antonelli’s car, allowing McLaren to carry out some mirror repairs on Piastri and Norris’ cars, with 45 minutes still remaining on the FP2 clock when Race Control declared that the circuit was clear once more.

Further runs on Pirelli’s medium and hard compound tyres duly triggered a flurry of changes at the top of the times – Leclerc clocking a 1m 20.937s, Max Verstappen producing a 1m 20.710s and Sainz getting down to a 1m 20.583s.

Elsewhere, Piastri and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto were shown clattering the kerbs at the exit of Lesmo 2, while Albon just about held onto his Williams after a dramatic mid-corner snap through Lesmo 1 – the latter two asking for checks to be carried out on their floors.

Around halfway into the session, drivers began to make the switch to the soft tyres, bringing a new pace-setting effort of 1m 19.878s from Norris, despite the Briton being forced to abandon his first lap on the red-marked rubber via a moment exiting the Roggia chicane.

Leclerc and Verstappen experienced troubles of their own on the soft rubber; Leclerc running wide exiting Lesmo 2 and reporting “no grip at all – like zero”; and Verstappen reporting that his car was becoming “really jumpy” and “really nervous on every little bump”.

When the final soft-shod laps came in, before drivers switched their focus to longer runs, Leclerc made a significant improvement to go second to Norris by 0.083s, before another off at the Ascari chicane, while Sainz backed up his early-session pace to slot into third.

Piastri wound up in fourth position, ahead of a trip to the stewards for allegedly entering the fast lane of the pit lane before the session restart, followed closely by Hamilton – who had a late trip through the gravel at the exit of Lesmo 2 – and Verstappen.

Albon underlined Williams’ strong start to the weekend in seventh, despite his earlier dramas, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull and George Russell’s Mercedes, which returned to the track for the start of FP2 after his early-day hydraulic issues.

Isack Hadjar was the quickest Racing Bulls driver in 11th, from Bortoleto (also noted by the stewards for an apparent yellow flag breach) and the Aston Martin and Haas machines of Lance Stroll, Oliver Bearman, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

The final positions were filled by Lawson, Gasly, the sidelined Antonelli and Colapinto, with drivers and teams now set to reconvene in the paddock to dig through the data and prepare for Saturday’s final practice session at 1230 local time.