Despite a hot seat making life uncomfortable for Lewis Hamilton, he would set the pace in FP2 at the Italian GP.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three, with neither Red Bull featuring in the top 10 after Max Verstappen topped FP1.

Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in Italian GP FP2

Work continued at Mercedes to get the W15 ready for George Russell as the light went green, following Kimi Antonelli’s Parabolica crash on debut in the opening session of the Italian Grand Prix race weekend.

Hamilton was out there and running in the sister Mercedes, setting the early pace with a 1:21.641 on the medium tyres, while Norris and Valtteri Bottas had an early look at the Turn 1 escape road after passing the slow-moving Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

As the session reached its one quarter mark, Sainz had taken over in P1 on a 1:21.264 from Norris and Verstappen, while VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo was first to stick on a pair of softs, lifting him up to P7.

But as Charles Leclerc set a new 1:21.119 benchmark, the tifosi could feast their eyes on that Ferrari 1-2 ahead of the soft tyre action.

And McLaren would land the first blow on the softs, Norris going P1 on a 1:20.851, just 0.007s up on team-mate Oscar Piastri, while Hamilton was left ruing the lack of an available tow and pointing out that he could hear someone “laughing” in the background over team radio as the areas for improvement (Turn 1/2 and getting a tow) were passed on.

It was a better second run for Hamilton who went top of the timings, a mere 0.003s up on Norris, while Verstappen got all out of shape at Parabolica and was forced to abandon his lap.

Just short of the halfway mark, out came Russell on a set of mediums for his first experience of the resurfaced Monza track, as he quickly reported that something was loose in the cockpit. A hot seat was bothering both Russell and Hamilton.

But the action was soon brought to a halt as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen found the barriers at the second Lesmo, the rear stepping out upon entry as he was sent through the gravel and into the wall. Out came the red flags.

The session resumed with 18 minutes left on the clock, as the medium tyres came back out for the race simulation runs. There were some exceptions though, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, yet to do a qualifying run, among the runners coming out on the softs.

Perez was unable to improve on his current P14 spot with that attempt, while Hamilton was again complaining about that hot seat around his lower back. The della Roggia chicane this time was proving tricky for Verstappen, who was noted for potentially failing to follow the race director instructions upon re-joining the track. Hamilton soon met the same fate.

But the timing screen will have lifted Hamilton’s mood as he topped FP2 by 0.003s over Norris as Sainz completed the top three.

FP2 times

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.738

2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.003

3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.103

4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.120

5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.154

6 George Russell Mercedes +0.348

7 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +0.402

8 Daniel Ricciardo RB +0.562

9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.578

10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.625

11 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +0.723

12 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.761

13 Alexander Albon Williams +0.854

14 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.872

15 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.940

16 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.997

17 Franco Colapinto Williams +1.046

18 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.081

19 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.129

20 Guanyu Zhou Kick Sauber +1.485