Rosberg tops FP2 as Ferrari closes in

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monzait

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time during second practice of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza, marginally topping his team mate Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari duo followed closely behind in third and fourth.

The session begun with some drama for Lewis Hamilton as his car's engine failed to start for the installation lap, forcing the team to remove the car's floor and check what was going on. One hour later, the team managed to get the car out after resolving an electronics issue on the #44 Mercedes AMG F1W05.

By that time, Rosberg installed himself on top of the timesheet with a run on the medium compound tyre, before reverting to some longer runs. Hamilton still managed to get some running done on the medium tyre but is essentially slightly on the backfoot when it comes to longer run pace with the softest of both tyres.

Also notable during the session were the issues that both Lotus drivers experienced. Maldonado and Grosjean were frequently seen missing the chicanes of Rettifilo and Roggia. Energy recovery from the rear brakes and its accompanying electric modulation have been a problem since the very beginning of the season for the team. The car's obvious lack of downforce isn't exactly helping either.

A little less obvious in time timesheet are the Williams cars as they both focused on race simulations. Their times proved impressive throughout their entire stints, confirming that the team may be at its best at this high speed Autodromo di Monza.

Results

Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1:26.225-41
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:26.2860.06116
37Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:26.3310.10631
414Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:26.5650.34026
577Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1:26.7580.53334
622Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1:26.7620.53734
71Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1:26.7620.53727
820Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1:26.8810.65644
919Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1:26.9350.71033
103Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-Renault1:26.9920.76737
1111Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1:27.0790.85442
1227Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1:27.2271.00239
1326Daniil KvyatStr-Renault1:27.4761.25137
1421Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1:27.8401.61533
1525Jean-Eric VergneStr-Renault1:27.9291.70433
1699Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1:28.0291.80435
1717Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1:28.6592.43434
1813Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1:28.7002.47542
194Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1:28.7862.56129
208Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1:29.0852.86029
2110Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1:29.1782.95332
229Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1:29.2753.05037