#F1 #ItalianGP FP2: @LewisHamilton pips @LandoNorris by 0.003s.

Hamilton Italian GP FP2 – Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton pipped McLaren’s Lando Norris to top the time-sheets in the evening FP2 session at the Italian GP as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three. Championship leader Max Verstappen was outside the top ten after a slip at Parabolica and a mid-session stoppage.

Hamilton posted the benchmark of a 1:20.738 on the C5 red marked softer rubber and was a very narrow 0.003 seconds clear of Norris whilst Sainz was a further 0.103 seconds off in third.

FP2 was suspended for ten minutes through the start of the midway point of the session after MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen crashed at the second Lesmo.

In the early proceedings on the C4 yellow-marked mediums, the home crowd enjoyed Sainz in his SF-24 entry demoting Hamilton and Norris from the benchmark effort with his 1:21.264 flyer, before Charles Leclerc went even faster on a 1:21.119 – getting away with turning in too early slightly on the grass on the rundown to the Variante Della Roggia chicane.

For the second consecutive race weekend in FP2, the drivers unusually switched early to the C5 red-branded softer tyres for their qualifying simulation runs – as the teams worked to see how softs would cope with multiple stints on the newly-laid asphalt at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

The McLaren duo lead the switch and flew to the head of the times – as Oscar Piastri posted a 1:20.858 that saw purple in sectors one and two, but Norris was able to top his team-mate by 0.007 seconds on a 1:20.851.

At this stage of proceedings, Hamilton ended up 0.317 seconds adrift and was not able to beat Leclerc’s earlier effort on the mediums, but the drivers were able to display that it is possible to get three flyers from the C5 compounds this season.

First Norris improved on his P1 benchmark setting a 1:20.791, then Hamilton jumped in-front posting a 1:20.738 – which gave him top spot by a very slim 0.007 seconds.

Just behind Verstappen’s initial softs hot-lap had to be abandoned as the Dutchman caught a snap of oversteer at the Alboreto Curve (Parabolica) as he was close to completing the tour.

Having suffered an off-track excursion on the outside, Verstappen backed off and began touring around slowly to possibly attempt another flying lap after cooling down his tyres, but the session was then interrupted by Magnussen’s shunt.

The Dane lost the rear of his Ferrari-powered VF-24 entry at Lesmo two on a soft flyer and spun off backwards into the gravel – wounding up stuck in the barriers, nose-first.

After Magnussen climbed out of the wreckage, the red flags were out for 12 minutes, after which the field re-emerged to complete the session with the traditional race data gathering stints.

Red Bull looked to give Sergio Perez another shot on the softs after he remained down the order before the red flag and whilst he completed a personal best effort, the Mexican remained 14^th and behind team-mate Verstappen’s time on the mediums from the early proceedings.

Perez also missed most of the first half of the hour-long session as Red Bull worked on his RB20 in the garage.

The stoppage initially held the top ten stable behind Hamilton and Norris as Sainz, Piastri, Leclerc, Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.

Sainz and Leclerc both posted their efforts either side of Norris and Hamilton putting in their second flying lap efforts on the C5’s.

Mercedes’ George Russell had a different session to his rivals, as he only joined the action 25 minutes late following repairs to his F1 W15 entry that Italian youngster Andrea Kim Antonelli had crashed in opening practice.

Like the rest, the Briton did a race simulation stint after the red flag, but a few moments before the end he swapped to the softs and jumped from last to sixth in the classification demoting Hulkenberg to seventh.

Both Hamilton and Russell reported hot seats aboard their F1 W15 entries at the end of the session.

RB’s Ricciardo was eighth as Aston Martin pairing Alonso and Stroll rounded out the top ten.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and the aforementioned Magnussen came outside the top ten in 11^th and 12^th place and in-front of Williams’ Alexander Albon who took 13^th in the classification.

Red Bull’s Verstappen and Sergio Perez followed in 14^th and 15^th places respectively as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Franco Colapinto finished 16^th and 17^th in the order.

BWT Alpine F1 Team pairing Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ended the day in 18^th and 19^th respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2024 Free Practice 2 Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1244/italy/practice/2

#ItalianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen tops time-sheets as #Antonelli crashes. #F1

#F1 @Pirelli #ItalianGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #ItalyGP #MonzaGP

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