FP2 Highlights | 2023 Italian Grand Prix

Second practice in Italy and it was Carlos Sainz with the best time of the session, the Spaniard with a time of 1'21.664. Both Ferrari drivers were a little late on the brakes at the Variantes, Sainz bumping over the kerbs at Rettifilo and Charles Leclerc cutting the corners at Della Roggia. The Monegasque also took to the escape road at Turn 1, after getting a little too up close and personal with the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc finished P3, just behind Max Verstappen, who also suffered a lock-up at the first corner, the reigning Drivers' Champion bouncing over the ridges. And not to be outdone, Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez suffered an even bigger lock, smoke billowing from his protesting tyres. The Mexican's best lap, good enough for P6. McLaren had a relatively quiet FP1, with Daniel Ricciardo's P10, the best papaya position. The Australian victorious here 12 months ago. Lando Norris seemed to have found the sweet spot in FP2, the Briton's early push laps, seeing him leap up the standings for an eventual P4 as the flag fell. Conversely, Mercedes had a tougher second session, with balance and stability issues affecting both drivers. The Silver Arrows finished 5th and 7th, Russell with the bragging rights. This time last year, the second Friday session was qualifying for the F1 sprint, won by Verstappen. No sprint this time around, so plenty of opportunity for teams to experiment with Monza's famous toe effect, both past drivers making use of a lull in traffic to test some theories. Earlier, Mick Schumacher, who sat out of FP1 in favour of Ferrari Reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi, had a moment at Rettifilo, the German locking up and cutting the chicane. He later had to pull off the track after encountering a technical problem, briefly red-flagging the session. Having retired from the last two Grands Prix, Valtteri Bottas will be looking for some redemption in Italy. However, the Finn flew wide a couple of times as he pushed his Alfa Romeo to the limit. So sights from Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Perez and Hamilton. Then came the two Alpines, with Esteban Ocon again one better than Fernando Alonso. Alex Albon completes the top 10. Ricciardo 11th ahead of Joe Guanyu, Bottas, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda and Kevin Magnussen. They were followed by the two Aston Martins of Vettel and Lance Stroll, with Nicholas Latifi in P19 ahead of the luckless Schumacher.