Mercedes continued their domination of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with Lewis Hamilton going fastest in Practice 2.
After a focus on single lap pace on Friday, Saturday saw attention switch to race performance ahead of the 18-lap Sprint Qualifying and race itself on Sunday.
Red Bull initially led the way before the session was red-flagged following a hefty crash for Carlos Sainz at the Ascari chicane.
? RED FLAG ?
Big crash for Carlos Sainz as he exits Ascari
Driver has safely exited and says he is OK #ItalianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/cCs5EXUVEj
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2021
But a late switch to soft tyres saw Hamilton post a 1m23.246s to finish two-tenths clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Max Verstappen was a further two-tenths back in third on the same tyre, while Sergio Perez sat fourth on the mediums as Red Bull still was not quite able to match the speed of the black Silver Arrows.
Esteban Ocon was fifth, with Robert Kubica ahead of Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi in sixth and seventh at the brand’s home race.
Fernando Alonso backed up Alpine’s solid pace in eighth ahead of Pierre Gasly, as Lando Norris rounded out the top 10 in the McLaren.
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Before the session, it was confirmed Charles Leclerc would be using his first engine of the season after issues on Friday, and the Monegasque also ended his session a little early for an unspecified reason in 11th.
Daniel Ricciardo was 12th, with the two Williams’ 13th and 14th. Yuki Tsunoda was 15th, as Nikita Mazepin led the two Aston Martins in 16th for Haas.
Teammate Mick Schumacher was 19th and Sainz brought up the field following his second Saturday practice crash in a week.
Full results from Practice 2 can be seen below:
