Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Mercedes dominate

After a sprint qualifying session that saw Valtteri Bottas outperforming his teammate and Max Verstappen, the drivers must now carry out the second and final free practice session of the weekend. The goal for the teams is to prepare well for the sprint race scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Struggling since the beginning of the season, Aston Martins started in the front with the Haas. The idea is to work on the endurance of the tire, not only for the sprint race, but also for Sunday’s. Note that with the issues on his Ferrari in qualifying, Charles Leclerc took back an old engine from the beginning of the season. However, he does not have a gain in performance.

After a little over ten minutes, the Mercedes and Red Bull cars were entering the track. Max Verstappen set the temporary fastest time in 1:23.754, ahead of his teammate. Some drivers could then see their tires greatly marked by graining, reducing the cars’ grip. Verstappen, on his side, was completing laps on soft tires to ideally prepare for the race the next day. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly found himself third, +1.328 behind the Dutch driver.

And the first red flag of the weekend was caused by Carlos Sainz. At Ascari, the Spaniard hit the wall violently causing a lot of damage to the front of his car. On the radio, the driver seemed very shocked by this accident. This is another blow for Sainz who is having a series of accidents. This was the case a week earlier, in Zandvoort. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine seeing his Ferrari out on the track for the sprint race.

🚩 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

With the car parked in the pit lane, the session was finally able to resume. In its final twenty minutes, the two Red Bulls still dominated the standings. The majority of the drivers were going out on red tires. With less fuel in the car, the seven-time world champion then set the fastest time in 1:23.246. Bottas was close behind.

A few minutes before the end of the session, the drivers were going out to complete the last laps. Sebastian Vettel was sarcastically complaining about the traffic on the track. This second session ended with the best time for Hamilton in 1:23.246. A session marked by Sainz’s huge accident. The latest news indicated that the Spaniard was doing well. In addition to the damage caused by the accident, Leclerc’s car was experiencing problems again. The driver did not want to drive his car until the end of the season. A very complicated start to the weekend for Ferrari. It is worth noting the good performances of Alfa Romeo, 6th and 7th.

The ranking of the second free practice session