Friday afternoon’s second practice at Monza started under warm sunshine with George Russell one of the first cars on track after his FP1 problem. Max Verstappen and Russell exchanged fastest laps in the opening minutes before McLaren drivers began to show their pace.

Oscar Piastri led briefly before Lando Norris moved ahead, even though both McLarens had mirror problems. Piastri’s mirror was cracked while Norris lost his completely. However, the session was then interrupted early when Andrea Kimi Antonelli spun into the gravel at Lesmo 2, which ended his running.

After the red flag, drivers struggled to stay on track. Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto and Charles Leclerc all went off at different points. Piastri was noted for not following the race director’s instructions and Alex Albon had a big slide but avoided hitting the barriers.

Once the session resumed, drivers switched to soft tyres to improve their times. Carlos Sainz briefly went fastest before Norris set the best lap of the day with a 1:19.878. Leclerc improved to second but went wide at Ascari late in the session. Piastri was fourth followed by Lewis Hamilton in fifth and Verstappen in sixth. Albon, Nico Hullkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda and George Russell completed the top ten.