Hamilton tops second practice ahead of Italian GP

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Lewis Hamilton returned to the top of the timesheet in the second practice session of the day. Nico Rosberg was second fastest, with the Mercedes duo once again followed by Ferrari who have closed the gap compared to the morning session.

Most teams proved creative in light of Sunday's race, trying various stint lengths on different compounds while analysing how to optimise set-up for the high speed Autodromo di Monza.

Following a bit of a slump in the morning, Red Bull Racing returned to the forefront, albeit still a few tenths down on Ferrari. With the 5th and 6th quickest times, Red Bull Racing held itself well together on a circuit that one could expect would not be very favourable to their car's characteristics.

The same goes for McLaren Honda, who have managed to get both cars into the top 10. Fernando Alonso was 7th fastest and Jenson Button 10th. Bottas and Grosjean were in between the two black cars.

While all the best times were set on the super soft tyres, most of the focus in FP2 is on longer stints. During those stints, it showed once again that Mercedes were very strong, with Rosberg especially impressive on the medium tyres.