Lando Norris, leaving behind the mechanical problems suffered in the Netherlands, led the practice for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
Norris’ hopes of securing his first world championship were significantly impacted by mechanical issues in Zandvoort. He enters the fifteenth round of 24 this weekend, behind his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, by 34 points.
However, Norris achieved the best time of the day at Monza’s “Temple of Speed”, bathed in sunshine, with Piastri, fresh after winning his seventh race of the previous season, only in fourth place.
Charles Leclerc placed second for Ferrari, one place ahead of the impressive Carlos Sainz in his Williams. Lewis Hamilton, in his debut for Ferrari at Monza, finished the day in fifth place, two tenths of a second behind, after having set the initial pace in the first practice.
Norris tried to put on a brave face ahead of his retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix when he carried out his media duties to preview this weekend’s event on Thursday.
But the British driver still clearly felt the pain of a DNF that puts him firmly at a disadvantage in his attempt to get his first world crown.
However, Norris will take confidence from his performance on Friday and a strong showing from both Ferrari and Williams, as he looks to regain championship momentum from his teammate Piastri.
Hamilton described his initial campaign with Ferrari as an “emotional rollercoaster.” He will serve a five-place grid penalty here after a yellow flag infringement in the previous round, a race that ended prematurely for the seven-time world champion after he crashed his Ferrari into the wall.
In the last round before the summer break in Hungary, Hamilton described himself as “useless”, and even urged his team to replace him after qualifying in 12th place and finishing in the same position.
But Hamilton, who has been outperformed in qualifying by teammate Leclerc 11 times since making the switch from Mercedes to the Italian giants and finished ahead of the Monegasque on only two occasions, enjoyed one of his strongest Fridays of the year.
Although he was fifth in the second race of the day, Hamilton was two tenths off the pace of Norris, who set the pace for McLaren. Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes, Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, is struggling to find his form. He has finished in the points only twice in his last nine appearances and his difficult streak took another turn at home when he lost control at the second Lesmo and beached his Mercedes in the gravel just 10 minutes into the second session.
It was a bad day for Mercedes after George Russell suffered an engine failure in the first race and could only manage tenth place, although just four tenths off the pace, in the final session.
