George Russell Tops Practice at Monza, Challenges Ferrari
George Russell landed an early blow at Monza, topping second practice for the Italian Grand Prix and halting Ferrari’s opening-day charge in front of their home crowd.
On a day when the story should have belonged to Ferrari’s new engine and Kimi Antonelli’s title lead, it was the Mercedes driver who set the standard. With his team-mate and championship leader condemned to start from the back on Sunday after engine-change penalties, Russell knows this is the weekend that could drag a 59-point gap back into something more manageable. He drove like a man who has read the script and intends to rewrite it.
Russell strikes back at Ferrari
Ferrari had lit up first practice. Upgraded power unit, scarlet cars, Monza sun. First and second on the timesheets. It felt like the start of a classic tifosi weekend.
Then the track temperature climbed, the grip went away, and Russell went to work.
His 1:22.559 lap in FP2 put him 0.120s clear of Charles Leclerc and 0.141s ahead of Antonelli, a sharp, committed effort that threaded the needle through the Rettifilo and Ascari while others slid wide. Leclerc’s late spin underlined how close to the edge the field was running as the heat built over northern Italy.
Lewis Hamilton, second quickest earlier in the day, could not quite live with the changing conditions. He slipped to fifth, edged out by Lando Norris, who took fourth for McLaren but still finished 0.384s off Russell’s benchmark. Oscar Piastri followed in sixth, a tenth further back.
For Russell, this was the kind of Friday that sets a tone. No pole since Austria, no win since that same weekend five races ago, but here he looked sharp, controlled, and entirely at ease with the car beneath him.
Martin Brundle summed it up succinctly on Sky Sports F1: this, he said, is Russell’s “big chance” to cut into Antonelli’s lead and underline his credentials as a future world champion. The implication was clear: if he doesn’t seize weekends like this, team orders later in the year could turn him into Antonelli’s bodyguard rather than his rival.
These are the races that decide how a season is remembered.
Antonelli’s compromised weekend
Antonelli’s approach could not have been more different. With the penalties locking him to the back rows of Sunday’s 22-car grid, Ferrari shifted his Friday almost entirely towards long-run work.
He described it as “a bit of a different day compared to usual” and “a lot more focused on long runs,” admitting it felt “a bit weird” to spend so much of practice in race trim rather than chasing lap time. But the Italian was satisfied: plenty of data, plenty of laps, and, crucially, plenty of time spent in traffic.
Monza’s long straights turn slipstreaming into an art form. Antonelli leaned into that, studying how rivals deployed their hybrid systems, where they lifted, where they attacked. He talked of learning from running behind other cars, watching the different approaches to energy deployment and racecraft at high speed.
His weekend may be compromised, but Monza offers chances. DRS zones, heavy braking into chicanes, and the ever-present temptation to brake a metre later than the car ahead. If anyone can turn a back-row start into something salvageable, it is the driver leading the championship.
McLaren meet their Monza reality
Norris arrives in Italy off the back of two straight wins, but McLaren have been clear: this circuit, with its endless straights and slow chicanes, would not flatter their car.
Practice backed that up. Norris’s fourth place, 0.384s away from Russell, was solid rather than spectacular, a reminder that their recent dominance came on very different layouts. Piastri, sixth, reinforced that picture. The orange cars looked tidy but not terrifying.
Still, if the race turns into a strategic fight or a DRS train, McLaren’s race pace and tyre management could drag them back into the argument. Norris, in particular, has been relentless on Sundays.
Verstappen struggles as tempers flare
Max Verstappen finally took over his Red Bull after Ayumu Iwasa had driven FP1, but the reigning world champion never looked at ease. He complained about the balance of his RB22 and could only manage the ninth-fastest time, far from the dominance that once felt routine.
Liam Lawson, standing in on the other side of the garage, finished 12th. The most eye-catching Red Bull-owned performance actually came from elsewhere: Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad put his car seventh, ahead of Haas rookie Oliver Bearman in eighth, the Briton making good use of Haas’s upgraded VF-26.
Verstappen’s frustrations were not limited to his own cockpit. Midway through the session he was forced off at the first chicane by what he called “dangerous” driving from Lance Stroll. The Aston Martin driver’s move drew a post-session stewards’ investigation and injected a flash of anger into an otherwise methodical Friday.
A grid braced for a pivotal weekend
As the sun dipped over Monza’s old banking, the timesheets told a story of opportunity and risk.
Russell on top, Mercedes responding to Ferrari’s early punch. Leclerc fast but on the limit. Antonelli starting from the back yet armed with a car that now looks competitive on both short and long runs. McLaren lurking, not quite at their best but still in the fight. Verstappen and Red Bull searching for balance and answers.
This is the kind of weekend that can bend a championship one way or the other. Russell has the clean air, Antonelli has the long game, and Ferrari’s home race sits right between them like a prize neither can afford to drop.
On Sunday, someone will leave Monza with momentum. The question is whether it will be the man chasing, or the one trying not to look over his shoulder.
