Brendan Lines 5th Sept, 2020

Lewis Hamilton was back on top as the fastest Mercedes in FP2 overnight, the Brit finished two tenths ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris was best of the rest with a late lap surging him to P3 for McLaren.

Both Mercedes again were the only cars to lap in the one minute twenty mark, but despite his fastest lap if 1:20.192s.

Hamilton says there is more work to be done to be in the fight for Saturday’s qualifying and to avoid the nightmare Q3 traffic of last year.

“The car didn’t feel great in the first session but in the afternoon, it felt like we made some encouraging improvements and it was much better,” Hamilton said in Friday.

“We have a few more steps to make overnight and then I think it’ll be where it needs to. It’s quite a bumpy track here and with the low downforce, there’s a lot of sliding. You need to find the right balance with the bumps and between the low and high-speed turns.

“The field is typically a lot closer here, compared to Spa, as it’s such a fast lap and there aren’t many corners. Valtteri’s quick here, too, so it’s going to be a fun battle. It’s going to be interesting in Qualifying, obviously we didn’t get our final lap in last year and I think the last corner will be a bit of a nightmare with everyone trying to get a gap, so it’s going to be hard work.”

Alpha Tauri continued its solid Friday pace from the morning session, this time Pierre Gasly was fastest in P4, just over a tenth ahead teammate Daniil Kyvat in P7.

Max Verstappen wasn’t affected by his off in FP1 going fastest of the Red Bull with a lap of 1:21.228s for P5, six tenths ahead of the sister Red Bull of Alex Albon in P14.

Carlos Sainz improved from FP1, despite the team and engine supplier Renault still not able to pin point the exhaust issue that kept him out of the Belgian GP, the Spaniard’ s time of 1:21.313s was enough for P6.

Lance Stoll reversed the orders at Racing Point after the morning session, his time of 1:21.389 was some two tenths quicker than teammate Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari some hope at its home race finishing P10 for FP2, the Monegasque complained the car was ‘very hard to drive after he had a similar off at the first if the Lesmo corners.

Sebastian Vettel’s rear end spun around earlier in the session, though he improved on FP1, the German could only manage P12 for the afternoon session.

Esteban Ocon was fastest of the Renaults in P11 some four tenths ahead of Daniel Riccicardo, but don’t be fooled, both Renault drivers had much faster lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.

Antonio Giovinazzi was again faster of the Alfas from the morning session in P13 ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in P17.

Kevin Magnussen was this time the fastest if the Haas cars in P16, two tenths quicker than Romain Grosjean in P18.

George Russell echoed Hamilton’s comments of the ‘nightmare slow moving traffic, the Brit was back in his car for FP2 but finished P20 behind teammate Nicholas Latifi in P19.

FP3 and Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix begins 7:30pm ACST tonight.