F1 Italian GP: Hamilton sets FP2 pace in interrupted session

Lewis Hamilton led FP2 at Formula 1’s 2024 Italian Grand Prix by 0.003 seconds from Lando Norris, while a Max Verstappen Parabolica slip and then a mid-session stoppage kept Red Bull outside the top 10.

FP2 was halted for over 10 minutes through the start of the second half of the one-hour session due to Kevin Magnussen crashing his Haas at the second Lesmo.

In the early stages on the medium tyres, the home crowd enjoyed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz knocking Hamilton and Norris down from the benchmark time with his 1m21.264s, before Leclerc went even quicker with a 1m21.119s – getting away with turning in from slightly on the grass on approach to the della Roggia chicane.

For the second weekend in a row in an FP2 session, there was an unusually early switch to the qualifying simulation runs – as the teams worked to see how the softs can cope with multiple runs on the new asphalt here.

The McLaren drivers led the switch and duly blitzed to the top times – with Oscar Piastri getting ahead on a 1m20.858s that featured then best times in the first and second sectors, but Norris was able to nip ahead by 0.007s with his 1m20.851s.

At this stage, Hamilton slotted in 0.317s slower and was not even able to head Leclerc’s earlier time on the mediums, but the drivers were about to show it is possible to get multiple push laps from the C5 rubber in 2024.

First Norris bettered the first-place benchmark with a 1m20.791, then Hamilton forged ahead on a 1m20.738s – that gave him first place by 0.003s – with both coming into the pits for front wing adjustments only between their two flying laps on the softs.

Just behind, Verstappen’s first softs effort had to be aborted as he had to catch an oversteer snap going through the Parabolica as he was close the lap.

Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15 (Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images)

Having gone into the runoff on the outside, Verstappen backed off and started touring around to possibly start a second attempt after cooling his tyres, but the session was then interrupted by Magnussen’s crash.

The Dane lost the rear of his Haas traversing Lesmo two on a soft tyre flier and spun off backwards into the gravel trap – ending up buried in the barriers, nose-first.

After he had climbed from the wreckage, the red flags flew for 12 minutes, after which the pack headed back out to complete the session with the typical end-of-FP2 race simulations.

Red Bull appeared to give Sergio Perez another chance to try the softs after he had stayed down the order pre-red flag. While he completed a personal best, he remained 14th and behind Verstappen’s best effort on the mediums from the early stages.

Perez had also missed much of the first half of the session as Red Bull worked on his RB20 in its garage.

The stoppage initially preserved the top 10 behind Hamilton and Norris as Sainz, Piastri, Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.

Sainz and Leclerc had set their best times either side of Norris and Hamilton putting in their second fliers on the softs.

George Russell’s session was completely different to the rest, as he only joined the fray 25-minutes in after Mercedes had to repair the car Andrea Kimi Antonelli had crashed in FP1.

Like like the rest did a race simulation stint after the red flag, but a few minutes before the end he switched to the softs and jumped from last to sixth, which shuffled Bottas down to 11th and left the two Red Bulls 14th and 15th.

Both Mercedes drivers complained of their seats getting hot throughout FP2.

F1 Italian GP FP2 Results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	24	1'20.738		258.302
2	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	23	+0.003 1'20.741	0.003	258.292
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	27	+0.103 1'20.841	0.100	257.973
4	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	24	+0.120 1'20.858	0.017	257.918
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	26	+0.154 1'20.892	0.034	257.810
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	20	+0.348 1'21.086	0.194	257.193
7	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	25	+0.402 1'21.140	0.054	257.022
8	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	23	+0.562 1'21.300	0.160	256.516
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	24	+0.578 1'21.316	0.016	256.466
10	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	27	+0.625 1'21.363	0.047	256.317
11	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	25	+0.723 1'21.461	0.098	256.009
12	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	11	+0.761 1'21.499	0.038	255.890
13	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	25	+0.854 1'21.592	0.093	255.598
14	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+0.872 1'21.610	0.018	255.542
15	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	14	+0.940 1'21.678	0.068	255.329
16	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	20	+0.997 1'21.735	0.057	255.151
17	F. Colapinto Williams	43		Williams	Mercedes	20	+1.046 1'21.784	0.049	254.998
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	23	+1.081 1'21.819	0.035	254.889
19	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	22	+1.129 1'21.867	0.048	254.740
20	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	27	+1.485 1'22.223	0.356	253.637
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