George Russell Dominates FP2 at Monza Italian Grand Prix
George Russell silenced the Tifosi on Friday afternoon, ripping up Ferrari’s script at Monza as he set the pace in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix and knocked Charles Leclerc off the top of the timesheets.
Leclerc had lit up FP1. By FP2, this was Russell’s stage.
Russell leads, Mercedes stamp authority
From the opening laps, the two silver cars owned the timing screens. Russell and Kimi Antonelli traded purple sectors while the rest of the field watched on. Russell, though, always looked that fraction sharper, that bit more at ease around the old royal park.
Antonelli, the championship leader and already resigned to starting from the back on Sunday thanks to engine-change penalties, still pushed hard. His first serious soft-tyre effort, though, unravelled when he caught an Audi at Parabolica, costing him crucial time and clearing the way for Russell.
Mercedes had opened with strong long runs on the hard tyre, then turned the screw. Russell bolted on softs and went quickest, then went even quicker on a second attempt. Only a late-session concern over a suspicious suspension vibration tempered what had otherwise been an emphatic statement. He radioed the team to check it. The lap time, though, was already in the bank.
Leclerc thrills, then spins
Ferrari’s day began with optimism. Leclerc had set the pace in FP1, feeding the home crowd’s belief that the red cars could dominate their home weekend. In FP2 he needed to respond, and he did – to a point.
With just over 13 minutes left, long after Mercedes had switched focus to longer runs, Leclerc strung together a clean soft-tyre lap to split the two Mercedes and move into second. It was a reminder that Ferrari are very much in this fight.
Then came the jolt.
Pushing again, Leclerc had a huge spin at the Variante della Roggia chicane with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Ferrari looped wildly, a cloud of tyre smoke hanging over a corner that has punished so many before him. He escaped without damage, but the moment underlined how close to the limit everyone is running at Monza.
Norris survives scare, McLaren play race games
The other big incident belonged to Lando Norris, the winner of the last two grands prix and a man driving with obvious confidence. That confidence was tested early.
At Turn 1, Norris found Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin in his path and had to jink onto the grass to avoid a far more serious clash. He kept it under control, but it was the sort of near-miss that can wreck a session in an instant.
Norris recovered and ended up fourth, once again with the edge over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri. Their closing stint turned into a fascinating dress rehearsal for Sunday, the pair running close together for an extended spell as if simulating race conditions, testing slipstreams, braking points and tyre behaviour in traffic.
Between them sat Lewis Hamilton in fifth. The Mercedes driver couldn’t quite live with Leclerc’s one-lap speed in FP2, despite running in a similar performance window to the Ferrari earlier in the day. Strategy, fuel loads, and run plans will explain some of that, but on paper Hamilton looked a step behind the sharp end.
Lindblad shines, Haas gamble on upgrades
Behind the usual heavyweights, Arvid Lindblad produced one of the standout performances of the afternoon. The Racing Bulls driver spent much of the first half of the session lodged in the top three and eventually finished an impressive seventh, leading the midfield and beating some far more experienced rivals.
Right behind him came Ollie Bearman, another young name making noise. Bearman is the only Haas driver with the upgraded Ferrari power unit this weekend, with Esteban Ocon – just 18th in FP2 – having been prioritised for other recent upgrades and only one new engine available.
For Haas, the stakes are high. An aero upgrade package sits alongside that new power unit as the team searches for a way out of a grim run: six consecutive grands prix without a single point. Monza, with its brutal honesty and low-drag demands, will quickly reveal whether this latest development push has teeth.
Verstappen fumes through troubled return
Max Verstappen’s first taste of the weekend did nothing to improve his mood. Ayumu Iwasa had driven the Red Bull in FP1, so FP2 was Verstappen’s chance to get up to speed. Instead, it turned into a rolling list of complaints.
He began by reporting a total lack of downforce, prompting a front wing change. That didn’t solve it. Soon he was talking about no grip in the slow-speed corners. Then the brakes. Then, later, the car “jumping” on the front axle as he wrestled with bouncing.
The world champion ended the session only ninth, behind Bearman and just ahead of the second Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda. For a driver used to operating at the sharp end, it was a scrappy, frustrating hour.
Alpine upgrade bites, Colapinto flirts with disaster
Franco Colapinto delivered something Alpine badly needed: encouragement. Running the team’s latest upgrade package for the first time this weekend, he finished ahead of his team-mate in FP2 and slipped into the upper midfield mix.
His session almost ended in the barriers. Late on, Colapinto ran wide and hit the gravel on the exit of Ascari, the car snapping sideways as it skated over the stones. He gathered it up and kept going, but it was a close call at one of Monza’s most unforgiving corners.
Behind him, Liam Lawson – standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull – took 12th, continuing to bank valuable mileage in a complicated, shifting driver landscape.
On a day when Ferrari’s fans came expecting more red on top, it was a silver car that set the tone. Russell left Monza with the fastest time, Leclerc with work to do, Verstappen with a headache, and the midfield with a sense that this weekend might just offer an opening.
Now the question is simple: can anyone turn Friday promise into Sunday glory at the Temple of Speed?
