Lando Norris was fastest in the second practice for the Italian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver set a 19.878 to go just under eight and a half hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc. Norris heads into this weekend looking to regain the momentum he had before his late retirement five days ago in Zandvoort.
The Englishman is hoping to reignite his championship challenge and close the thirty-four-point lead to teammate Oscar Piastri. The session suggested that McLaren had sandbagged during FP1, as Norris only didn’t set the fastest time but also looked the strongest on the long run pace.
The session passed without major incident as drivers explored the limits, including both McLaren drivers, Norris locked up and went into a big slide at the Ascari chicane, while Piastri ran wide over the gravel at the second Lesmo.
Piastri did miss first practice as McLaren gave Irish teenager Alex Dunne a runout in their car as part of the mandatory requirement to run a rookie in practice at least four times this season. McLaren were given a reprimand for letting Piastri out of his garage too early following a red flag period.
Leclerc was just under a tenth faster than his former teammate Carlos Sainz, who once again showed decent pace for Williams at Monza. Though on his first run on the soft tyres, the Monacan complained he had “no grip at all” left him in tenth. But, on his next run, Leclerc appeared to have rectified his handling ails, as he moved up to second.
The Spaniard going eight and a half hundredths ahead of Piastri with Lewis Hamilton a hundredth further behind, the seven-time champion has a five-place grid penalty for the grand prix after an infringement on the reconnaissance laps before last weekend’s race in Zandvoort.
Norris said, “Normally by this point we have, like, a one-second gap on everyone but at the moment it’s just a bit close for my liking. I feel like some small things to improve, and for us to still be P1, I thought was good. I thought we improved some stuff from FP1 to FP2 but just a bit close, so I just need to try and make the gap a bit bigger so we’re a little more comfortable.”
Piastri added, “Today has been a good day. Obviously, not doing FP1, I had a bit of catching up to do in FP2, but I feel like I hit the ground running and the car felt pretty good. Just got the set-up maybe a little bit wrong on the soft [tyre], the second lap was pretty decent considering it was the second lap on the tyres. Feeling pretty good and just need to tweak a little bit more tomorrow and find a bit more pace, as usual.”
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull sixth, going seven thousandths behind Hamilton, as he complained that his RB21 was jumpy and nervous “on every little bump.” But the four-time champion was a tenth faster than former teammate Alex Albon, who underlined the strength of the Williams once again at Monza.
It suggested that Verstappen and Red Bull could be in a slightly stronger position than they were last weekend. Nico Hulkenberg was six hundredths behind Albon, and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda by seven thousandths while George Russell completed the top ten.
Isack Hadjar put his Racing Bull eleventh, the French-Algerian who is rumoured to be moved up to the sister Red Bull team following his maiden podium in Zandvoort, missed out on the top ten by just over a tenth. Hadjar was just over nine hundredths faster than Gabriel Bortoleto. The Brazilian was noted for a potential yellow flag infringement.
Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin thirteenth ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso by just over a tenth, but they were split by Ollie Bearman who was eight hundredths behind the Canadian, and ahead of the two-time champion by nearly four hundredths.
Alonso managed to split the Haas’s as he went a hundredth faster than Esteban Ocon, while Liam Lawson was a tenth and a half behind. Pierre Gasly was eighteenth ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Franco Colapinto
The Italian caused an early red flag when he also went off and became beached at the Second Lesmo. After he suffered a snap of oversteer through the second right-hander, and veered off into the gravel while trying to catch the slide. Similar to his FP1 off last year.
Despite his difficult season and start at monza, CEO and team principal Toto Wolff has publicly backed the Italian, who is set to stay with the team for 2026 alongside George Russell.
Antonelli said, “I pushed a bit too hard for the braking moment. It’s a shame. The day was looking good as I had a good FP1 and the start of FP2 was looking strong. The confidence is still high and we are moving in the right direction with the setup. A shame to miss some laps but I will get ready to deliver the best job tomorrow.”
