2026 Italian GP FP2: Russell sets Late Friday pace

George Russell ended Friday at the Italian Grand Prix on top of the timesheets after beating Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli in a closely fought second practice session at Monza.

The Mercedes driver produced a 1m 22.559s during the qualifying simulations to finish 0.120s clear of Leclerc, who continued Ferrari’s encouraging start to its home weekend after topping FP1 earlier in the day.

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Antonelli was only another 0.021s behind Leclerc, leaving the Italian third and 0.141s away from his Mercedes team-mate’s benchmark. It was another strong showing from the 2026 F1 World Championship leader, although Antonelli already knows he will start Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix from the back of the grid following a power unit change. Behind the leading trio, Lando Norris took fourth for McLaren at 0.384s off the pace, while Lewis Hamilton completed the top five for Ferrari, 0.457s behind Russell.

2026 Italian Grand Prix FP2 Results

2026 Italian Grand Prix FP2, 4 September 2026

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:22.559	31
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.120s	29
3	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.141s	32
4	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.384s	25
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.457s	27
6	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.469s	26
7	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+0.790s	26
8	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+0.811s	29
9	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.818s	30
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	+0.896s	29
11	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+1.060s	28
12	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull Racing	+1.101s	37
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1.173s	28
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1.214s	27
15	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.217s	22
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+1.294s	31
17	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+1.341s	30
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+1.848s	30
19	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+2.468s	18
20	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+2.523s	28
21	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+2.590s	28
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+2.694s	27

Full grid returns for second practice at Monza

Unlike FP1, all 22 regular race drivers were back behind the wheel for the second hour of Friday running.

Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez had all sat out first practice as Red Bull, Alpine, Williams and Cadillac respectively handed track time to rookie drivers Ayumu Iwasa, Paul Aron, Luke Browning and Colton Herta.

With those substitutions completed, attention shifted towards the more representative running of FP2 and the crucial work of understanding both qualifying performance and longer-run pace.

Mercedes immediately looked competitive.

After the opening 10 minutes, Antonelli held the fastest time with a 1m 23.417s, but there was virtually nothing separating the leading contenders.

Just 0.055s covered Antonelli, Russell and Leclerc, suggesting from the outset that Mercedes and Ferrari were closely matched around the Temple of Speed.

Leclerc’s opening phase was not completely clean, however. The Ferrari driver locked up approaching the first chicane and was forced to take to the run-off area before continuing.

Verstappen was having more significant difficulties on his return to the Red Bull.

The defending Italian Grand Prix winner reported a lack of downforce from the RB22 and returned to the pits, where Red Bull changed the front wing as the team attempted to improve the balance of his car.

When Verstappen returned to the track and set a representative lap on the medium tyre, his effort was only enough for eighth place at that stage.

Traffic creates problems as drivers search for a tow

As ever at Monza, outright speed was only one part of the equation.

Cars began circulating in close proximity as drivers attempted to position themselves for a valuable slipstream down the circuit’s long straights, creating some uncomfortable moments as the track became increasingly congested.

Norris was involved in the most notable near-miss.

Approaching the first chicane, the McLaren driver was forced onto the grass in the braking zone after Lance Stroll moved across onto the racing line ahead of him.

Norris avoided contact and continued, but made his feelings clear over the radio, describing the situation as “dangerous”.

Attention then turned towards the first qualifying simulations as teams began fitting the C5 soft tyres.

Antonelli was among the earliest drivers to make the switch, although the championship leader’s first attempt did not go to plan.

Traffic through Parabolica compromised the Mercedes driver’s preparation and he abandoned the lap before getting another opportunity on his second push effort.

This time Antonelli delivered.

The Italian became the first driver of the weekend to break through the 1m 23s barrier, posting a 1m 22.700s to move to the top of the timesheets.

It briefly appeared as though Mercedes might have established a significant advantage.

Russell had also started his soft-tyre programme, but aborted his first run and returned to the pits for a front-wing adjustment before heading back out.

With the session approaching its halfway point, Russell produced a 1m 22.686s, edging Antonelli by just 0.014s.

The two Mercedes drivers were now sitting more than seven tenths of a second clear of the rest of the field, although that advantage came with an obvious caveat: many of their rivals had yet to complete their own soft-tyre qualifying simulations.

Leclerc attacks before Russell finds another step

Once the rest of the leading teams moved onto the soft compound, the timing screens rapidly began to change.

Leclerc again demonstrated the speed Ferrari had shown during FP1 by delivering a 1m 22.679s, moving ahead of both Mercedes cars and provisionally returning to the top of the order.

His stay there was brief.

Russell responded with the fastest lap of the session, finding more time around the 5.793km Monza circuit to record a 1m 22.559s.

That put the Briton 0.120s clear of Leclerc, with Antonelli’s earlier 1m 22.700s leaving him only 0.141s behind his team-mate.

Nobody would go faster.

Russell’s benchmark survived the remainder of the hour and ensured Mercedes, rather than Ferrari, ended Friday with the outright fastest time despite the Scuderia having topped FP1.

Leclerc’s session was not entirely straightforward in the closing stages either.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, the Monegasque lost control at the second chicane and spun his Ferrari. He was able to recover without hitting anything and quickly rejoined, avoiding damage to a car that had shown front-running speed throughout Friday.

Antonelli also reported understeer during the session but still finished third, completing an encouraging day for Mercedes in terms of outright performance.

His Sunday prospects remain complicated by the engine-related grid penalty that will send him to the rear, but the pace displayed in FP2 offered a clear indication that the championship leader could have the machinery to make progress through the field.

Norris leads McLaren challenge as Hamilton takes fifth

Norris ended the session as the closest driver to the Mercedes-Ferrari leading group.

The reigning World Champion’s best effort secured fourth place, although his 0.384s deficit to Russell left a noticeable gap between McLaren and the top three on single-lap pace.

Hamilton followed in fifth, finishing 0.457s away from Russell’s benchmark in the second Ferrari.

It meant both Ferrari cars remained inside the top five after their 1-2 result in FP1, maintaining the Scuderia’s promising start to a weekend carrying enormous significance in front of the Tifosi.

Oscar Piastri improved on his 11th place from the opening session by taking sixth for McLaren, while Arvid Lindblad continued an encouraging Friday for Racing Bulls in seventh.

Ollie Bearman put his upgraded Haas in eighth, an improvement from his 14th-place finish in FP1.

Verstappen could manage only ninth after his earlier complaints over the level of downforce from his Red Bull, leaving the Dutchman with work to do overnight if he is to repeat his victory at Monza from 12 months ago.

Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10 for Racing Bulls.

Colapinto survives Ascari moment as Bortoleto hits trouble

There was drama further down the field as Franco Colapinto endured a high-speed off at the exit of the Ascari chicane.

The Alpine driver was able to continue and ultimately finished the session in 11th place, narrowly missing out on a top-10 position.

Liam Lawson, who had impressed by finishing fourth in FP1 while continuing his stand-in role at Red Bull, slipped to 12th during the second session.

Nico Hulkenberg took 13th for Audi, ahead of the returning Gasly in 14th for Alpine.

Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top 15 in the second Audi, although his session ended earlier than planned when an engine issue forced him to stop running.

Williams endured a subdued FP2, with Albon returning to his car and finishing 16th, one place ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz in 17th.

Esteban Ocon was 18th for Haas, while Aston Martin endured an even more difficult session.

Fernando Alonso could manage only 19th, ahead of the two Cadillacs of Perez and Valtteri Bottas in 20th and 21st respectively.

Stroll completed the 22-car order in the second Aston Martin after his earlier close encounter with Norris.