FP2: Hamilton tops the afternoon session as Mercedes smash their rivals again

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Lewis Hamilton ended up fastest in the afternoon session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza followed by his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes was in a league of its own again, enjoying a gap of almost a full second over its nearest rival, McLaren's Lando Norris.

Kimi Räikkönen registered the first timed lap in the afternoon session by posting a time of 1m22.959. After ending up in third spot in the morning, Alex Albon put his Red Bull RB16 to the top before Lance Stroll went fastest on the medium compound.

The home ’heros’ Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc rolled out on to the track on the hard and the medium tyres respectively. After finishing down in 19th in FP1, Vettel continued to struggle for pace, posting the slowest time on his first flying lap.

In the meantime, Pierre Gasly put his AlphaTauri AT01 to the front with a time of 1m21.578 on the C3 medium compound. On his second hot lap, Leclerc improved to third, but he was still 0.433s off the pace-setting Gasly. The Monegasque’s time was deleted for going over the track limits at the famous Parabolica corner.

With 67 minutes to go, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton made their first appearance on the track. The Dutchman went fourth fastest with his first timed lap before the Briton flew to the top with a time of 1m21.085, using his dominant W11.

Bottas was the last driver to join the track action, using Pirelli’s C2 hard compound. The Finn set a 1m21.462 with his first flying lap while his teammate Hamilton improved to a shocking time of 1m20.645, signalling that no one would be able to keep up with Mercedes this weekend once again.

With 49 minutes left on the clock, drivers were keen to have a first taste on the soft tyres. Carlos Sainz was the first driver to post a time on the C4 compound, improving to third place, albeit six tenths of a second behind Hamilton’s best time.

The Alfa Romeo and Haas drivers failed to keep up with the pace of Mercedes despite being on the soft compound. Giovinazzi was the fastest of the quartet, setting a time of 1m21.786, over 1.5s off the pace.

Ferrari drivers ended up 8th and 11th fastest with their flying laps with Leclerc beating Vettel by two tenths of a second. Mercedes continued to dominate on the soft compound with Hamilton having the upper hand over Bottas. The six-time world champion set a time of 1m20.192 that was two tenths of a second faster to what Bottas was able to on the C4 rubber.

The big surprise was Gasly who ended up fourth quickest, beating Verstappen who was clearly having troubles with getting the best out of the soft compound.

McLaren’s Lando Norris endured a difficult afternoon with only completing eight laps in the first part of the session due to power unit issues. However, he was able to rejoin the action and set the third-fastest time when his rivals were already completing their race simulations.