#ItalianGP FP2: @LewisHamilton leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

Lewis Hamilton lead from team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes one-two in a red-flag affected FP2 session at the Italian GP after a heavy crash from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at Ascari.

After a front-row lockout for the 100km Qualifying Sprint Race in yesterday’s Qualifying session, Mercedes continued to show their dominance at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza as it swept to lead the order again.

Hamilton saw championship rival for Red Bull Max Verstappen set the early benchmark, but managed to edge clear at the head of the time-sheets with 15 minutes remaining on the C4 red side-walled compounds.

An effort of a 1:23.246 was enough to give Hamilton top spot at the end of proceedings, leading team-mate Bottas by 0.222 seconds.

Verstappen wound up 0.416 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark in third place, having struggled to match the Mercedes drivers’ pace so far this weekend.

Verstappen was sitting in P1 when the session was halted after the 26 minute mark when Sainz crashed at the Variante Ascari.

Sainz lost control of his SF21 racer on the turn-in of the second apex, causing the Spaniard to spin into the wall on the left-hand side of the circuit and left his Ferrari with a damaged nose, front suspension and wing.

Sainz reported it was a “massive crash” and it “hurt a bit” but that he was ok, with the replay showing his head pulling forward in the cockpit of his SF21. The Ferrari driver was taken to the medical centre after the crash and given preliminary clearance, but will have another check ahead of the Qualifying Sprint.

After Sainz’ SF21 was removed and taken to the pits, FP2 continued with 21 minutes remaining, prompting drivers to charge for improvements with a switch of rubber.

Hamilton posted his best effort on the softs, but toured three-tenths clear of a second off his hard tyre stint during a long run.

Qualifying Sprint pole-sitter Bottas was two tenths off team-mate Hamilton in second place, whilst Verstappen made a late improvement on his medium tyre run to take third.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, ended FP2 in fourth place and in-front of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was fifth.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Robert Kubica finished the session in an impressive sixth place and ahead of team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi who was seventh and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in eighth.

Last year’s Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly came ninth in the final practice session for AlphaTauri and in-front of McLaren’s Lando Norris who completed the top ten.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended FP2 in 11th place with the Monegasque-youngster running a previously used power-train following his problems in yesterday’s qualifying, but reported at the end of the session that he had to pit.

The other McLaren MCL35M of Daniel Ricciardo was 12th in the time-sheets and ahead of Williams duo Nicholas Latifi and George Russell who were 13th and 14th respectively and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda taking 15th.

Haas F1 Team pairing Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher were 16th and 19th respectively with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel 17th and 18th and the aforementioned Sainz brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’Italia 2021 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1076/italy/practice-2.html

#ItalianGP Qualifying: @ValtteriBottas pips @LewisHamilton to Sprint pole. #F1

#ItalianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

#Formula1 @Heineken #ItalianGP 2021 Preview. #F1 #ItalianGrandPrix