Italian GP Friday practice

By: Geoff Creighton

Summary


	Leclerc sets the pace in FP2, taking a clean sweep for Ferrari after a repeat of FP1
	Hamilton second for Mercedes, Vettel third
	Bottas ahead of two Red Bulls in fifth and sixth
	Session red-flagged briefly due to rain

Status: Stopped

17:45 Well that was both eventful and uneventful, but here's our report from the practice session as Ferrari starts its weekend strongly

Italian Grand Prix practice: Charles Leclerc's Ferrari fastest

Charles Leclerc set the pace in the rain-affected second free practice session for Formula 1's Italian Grand Prix at Monza

17:39

17:34

17:30 And it's a Ferrari clean sweep of Friday at Monza, with Leclerc on top again.

Hamilton just 0.068s behind Leclerc, can there be a true Mercedes/Ferrari battle this weekend?

17:28

17:28 And Norris joins the go-straight-on-at-Turn-1 party.

17:27 Kvyat's the latest to get Turn 1 wrong, locking up and going straight on as he ran alongside Bottas. Albon had done the same moments earlier.

17:27

17:26

17:26 Five minutes remaining, with most cars still circulating despite the worsening conditions.

17:24 Rain is now worsening at Ascari and on the exit of the Parabolica heading onto the start/finish line.

17:24 Leclerc goes straight on at Turn 1 in a scrappy few minutes for the Ferrari driver.

17:22

17:21 Norris is out on track now, by the way. He can validate the repair job if nothing else in these final 10 minutes.

17:20 Verstappen reports he can feel the rain on his glove, so it's still very much on-and-off precipitation.

He said those comments at Ascari and our journalists have spotted rain on the start/finish line.

17:19 Leclerc clips the inside orange kerb at the first corner after locking up on entry, with Gasly having to be on his toes running close behind.

17:18 Leclerc asks if "everything is normal in the straights". Ferrari confirms it is.

17:17 Albon goes straight on at Turn 1 in a rare moment of something happening in the last 15 minutes.

17:13

17:11 Leclerc's come in to switch to the hard tyres as the majority of the field focuses on longer runs.

17:09 If you're wondering, the times at the moment are in the 1m24-26s range, so we're some way off the leading efforts.

17:08 As we're seeing little in the way of improvements, now's a good time to flag up a little bit of an argument brewing off track, as Verstappen hits back at Rosberg

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17:06

17:03 Leclerc told there's value in running in these mixed conditions because Ferrari expects it to be similar in the race. Interesting...

17:00 Hamilton was fastest of all in the third sector, two tenths up on Leclerc, showing the benefit of that tow.

17:00 Mercedes is now doing its qualifying simulations and Hamilton jumps to second with the help of a tow, 0.068s off Leclerc and Bottas slots into fourth.

16:58 Vettel's come into the pitlane so he can do a practice start.

16:57 Vettel's told Ferrari is "expecting drizzle all the way to the end of the session".

16:55 Rain reported in the pitlane now, as we fill the British stereotype of talking about the weather excessively.

16:55 Hamilton and Bottas head out on the soft tyres, this is their first real run on the compound in the session.

16:53 None of the front three teams are out on the track, but the majority of the midfield are out circulating.

16:52 Raikkonen's just lapped almost five seconds off the pace, which gives you an idea of how likely we are to see any early improvements.

16:51 The gearbox has been put back into Norris's car and there's still a lot of working ongoing on his McLaren. Will he get any running in the remaining 40 minutes?

16:50 Few more drivers on out laps or early runs now in the Renaults, Alfas and Racing Point.

16:49 Magnussen and his team are discussing the conditions, it's looking very mixed out there.

The new surfacing is tricky on the slick tyres, Magnussen is battling the car much more on the run to Lesmos.

16:47 So that's just under 45 minutes remaining for the teams to tot up the mileage.

16:47 Oh, good cars on track! Mercedes and Haas are the first to oblige.

16:46 Gasly is pulling his crash helmet back on though, which is an exciting development.

16:45 We've not fallen asleep or got lost in the trance of 1979 Ferrari photos, there's just still nothing on track.

16:40 But rather than bore you with more sweeping anecdotes, we'll point out something much quicker and far cooler was out on track earlier today.