#F1 #ItalianGP #FP2: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest ahead of @CharlesLeclerc, #Antonelli.

Russell Italian GP FP2 – George Russell ended the afternoon FP2 session on top of the time-sheets at the Italian GP ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and his Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli who completed the top three with the latter set to take an engine penalty and start at the back-of-the-grid for Sunday’s race.

Russell on the C5 red side-walled softer compounds posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:22.559 and was 0.120 seconds clear of Leclerc whilst Antonelli was a further 0.141 seconds off his team-mate in third.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto lead the pack out on track with the C3 white-marked harder tyres.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, also on the harder rubber set the benchmark of a 1:25.174, which was beaten by Bortoleto’s 1:24.666, as Red Bull’s Liam Lawson went quickest on a 1:24.473.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took P1 on a 1:24.466 then was pipped by Leclerc who went fastest with a 1:23.472.

Hamilton slotted behind his team-mate with a 1:23.831, as Antonelli topped the time-sheets on a 1:23.417.

Russell on the harder tyre jumped to third to be 0.208 seconds off his Mercedes team-mate Antonelli posting a 1:23.625 with the best middle sector.

Reigning World Champion Lando Norris was down in fifth on a 1:24.060 effort.as his team-mate Piastri moved into that very spot on a 1:24.059 with three personal bests.

Arvid Lindblad put his VCARB03 entry into fourth place with a 1:23.807 following a purple final sector whilst Russell with the best middle sector was up into second setting a 1:23.434 effort.

Liam Lawson with three personal bests moved to eighth overall on a 1:24.135 as replays showed Leclerc run off at the Variante Del’Rettifilo and take to the escape road.

Colapinto despite the best opening sector and two personal bests went ninth best and 0.831 seconds off Antonelli’s benchmark.

Piastri with three personal bests improved and remained in sixth place posting a 1:23.855 as his McLaren team-mate Norris was up into fourth place to set a 1:23.796.

Max Verstappen was next on the mediums and with three personal bests took eighth on a 1:23.950 whilst Lindblad jumped to third setting a 1:23.468 and with the best final sector.

Replays showed Norris encounter a very close call narrowly avoiding Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll just before the Variante Del Rettifilo Chicane and taking to the escape road.

Lawson on the softer compound moved into fifth posting a 1:23.660 as Russell with two personal bests went fastest on a 1:23.202 to be 0.215 seconds clear of team-mate Antonelli.

The stewards noted the incident involving Norris and Stroll.

Antonelli was next on the C5 softer compounds and went quickest in the middle sector then came back into the box.

Verstappen setting three personal bests jumped into sixth in the order on a 1:23.749 to be 0.547 seconds off Russell’s benchmark just before the 20^th-minute mark of the session.

By the 23^rd-minute mark, the majority of the field were in the pits adjusting their setups to prepare for their qualifying simulation stint bar Antonelli, Russell, Gasly, Ocon, Perez and Alonso were out on track.

Antonelli on the softs with two purple sectors took top spot on a 1:22.700 to go 0.502 seconds in-front of team-mate Russell.

Russell and Lawson were the only two drivers left on track having the whole Autodromo Nazionale Monza to themselves for the time being.

Russell with a purple sector one and two personal bests reclaimed the top of the pile by 0.014 seconds setting a 1:22.686 as replays showed the Briton take a bit more kerb through Variante Ascari and take a slide out of that famous sequence.

Colapinto with three personal bests on the softer tyres improved to fifth posting a 1:23.619 effort just as the session past the halfway point.

Lindblad was next on a flyer and the VCARB driver improved but remained in third on a 1:23.465 as Yuki Tsunoda jumped ahead of the Briton in third setting a 1:23.455.

Leclerc then jumped to P1 with the best final sector on a 1:22.679 to be a narrow 0.007 seconds clear of Russell.

Russell snatched top spot back off the Monegasque driver with three personal bests on a 1:22.559 to be 0.120 seconds ahead whilst Norris with three personal best efforts took fourth on a 1:22.943 and was a further 0.384 seconds adrift of the Briton.

Hamilton was slotted in between the two McLaren with his 1:23.016 effort to be in fifth place.

Lindblad with a personal best sector one improved on his next hot-lap to move into seventh on a 1:23.439 as replays showed Hamilton suffer a big lock-up into the Variante Del Rettifilo and took to the escape road.

Bearman with the upgraded Ferrari power-unit aboard his VF-26 jumped into eighth posting a 1:23.370 and ended up 0.811 seconds off Russell’s best time.

With less the 20 minutes remaining, only Russell, Antonelli, Albon, Ocon and Alonso were on-track whilst the rest were back in the pits adjust their car setups, putting in a heavier fuel load before rejoining to do their traditional long race data gathering runs.

The entire field bar Alonso were all on track with 15 minutes left on the clock to begin their long race performance runs and with a mix of softs, mediums and hards.

Replays showed Leclerc lose the rear and suffer a big spin out of the exit of the Variante Della Roggia Chicane. Luckily for him, the Monegasque driver kept it on the track, so other than wrecking his tyres, had managed to get away with that one.

“The car is jumping a lot more now,” reported Verstappen who was down in ninth as Colapinto had just bounced wide over the kerbs and into the gravel. The Argentine was lucky to avoid the barriers.

The session ended with Russell on top with Leclerc second and Antonelli rounding out the top three.

Hungarian and Dutch GP back-to-back winner Norris took fourth and ahead of Hamilton who was fifth and McLaren team-mate Piastri who ended the day sixth.

RB’s Lindblad took seventh and in-front of Bearman who finished Free Practice 2 eighth.

Verstappen was down in ninth for Red Bull reporting problems all session as Tsunoda completed the top ten.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2026 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA 2026 – PRACTICE 2

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