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Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second practice of the Italian Grand Prix as Mercedes dominated once again.
Hamilton was 0.262 seconds faster than teammate Valtteri Bottas after completing laps on the line aft, each trying to profit from a slip.
Daniel Ricciardo was third in the Renault, but the lap time was eliminated for going off the track at Parabolica.
McLaren’s Lando Norris took the spot with a fixed lap at the end after engine problems.
Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly was fourth to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc was the fastest Ferrari in ninth, but lamented the traffic on the radio after completing his lap.
The Monegasque, who took pole and won the race in 2019, was one of the few drivers who managed to secure a final lap in qualifying last year when the drivers bumped into each other trying not to be first in the slide queue. .
Returning to Monza a year later, in a much less competitive position, Leclerc called the traffic “a disaster”, although he admitted: “It is good training for qualifying.”
His teammate Sebastian Vettel was twelfth, and he spun on the first Lesmo in his race simulation run later in the session, the most serious of a series of off-track or out-of-control incidents for the four times champion during the day.
Leclerc had what was close to a similar moment in the same corner shortly after, but managed to catch it without turning, although it went off the track.
“The car is so difficult to drive,” Leclerc said on the radio immediately afterward.
Hamilton heads into the weekend 48 points clear of Verstappen in the championship and just two wins to match Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 wins.
“I felt like we made some improvements from P1 to P2,” said Hamilton. “P1 didn’t feel very good. Everything is low downforce, so a lot of slipping. It’s going to be close among a lot of people I think.
“It’s quite a bumpy track so it’s about trying to get the right balance with the bumps and the balance between high and low speed, we have a few more steps to take and it will be where I need it.”
Hamilton added that he expected qualifying to be “a nightmare” in regards to traffic and everyone trying to create adequate space for themselves for their lap.
Verstappen crashed in the morning’s first practice and was just over a second slower than Hamilton in the afternoon, while Gasly was 0.107 seconds ahead of Red Bull with his time.
Verstappen said: “It’s not a good day. Struggling with balance and grip in general. There is still a lot of work to do.”
His teammate Alex Albon was 14th fastest having eliminated his fastest lap time for running wide at Parabolica.
Ricciardo’s pace, despite the elimination of his lap time, underscores the expectation that Renault will be in the race for a position near the front of the grid, after the Australian qualified and finished fourth at the end. last week at Spa-Francorchamps.
Behind Verstappen, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz set the fifth fastest time, shortly before a moment off the track at Lesmo’s first turn, ahead of Daniil Kvyat’s second Alpha Tauri and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.
McLaren’s Norris, sporting a helmet with two separate pizza types on it as his own left-field tribute to Italy, had a troublesome session, hampered by engine problems, apparently with the hybrid energy recovery system.
