Sainz fastest on Friday as Perez ends second practice in the gravel

Carlos Sainz Jnr put Ferrari quickest in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix as Sergio Perez spun out of the session.

The Ferrari driver set the pace with a 1’21.355, two-hundredths of a second faster than Lando Norris. Perez was third-fastest for Red Bull but ended his session in the gravel trap after spinning off at the final corner, Parabolica.

The second hour of practice saw clear, dry conditions as drivers returned to the high-speed circuit for the second practice session of the day. Cars took to the track with the majority choosing to do so on the medium compound, including the Red Bulls, Ferraris and Mercedes who all ran solely on the hard compound tyres for the first session.

After sitting out the first session to allow Felipe Drugovich to drive his car, Lance Stroll returned to the cockpit eager to get laps under his belt. However, on his second lap of the session, Stroll was forced to pull off the circuit with a suspected fuel system problem, bringing out the red flags and signalling the end of his session.

Following a short delay, the system restarted with drivers getting to complete their first timed laps of the session. Max Verstappen posted his first time on the mediums, instantly going quickest with a 1’22.259. Alexander Albon put his Williams second fastest with the use of the soft tyres, half a tenth slower than the Red Bull.

Oscar Piastri had to skip across the Roggia chicane after encountering the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who had backed off. But Hamilton was also struggling for speed even when pushing and was well down the order for the majority of the session.

The Ferraris of Sainz and Charles Leclerc jumped to the top of the times with Sainz almost three tenths faster than his team mate with a 1’21.565. Both Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and Perez, complained of having one of their push laps interrupted by traffic, leaving either of them unable to go quickest.

Sainz improved to a 1’21.355 with Norris putting his McLaren second-fastest just 0.019s slower than the Ferrari’s best. Perez improved to third, just under two tenths slower, but with under ten minutes remaining in the session the Red Bull driver ran wide at Parabolica, also known as Alboreto, and got onto the gravel on the outside, skidding backwards gently into the barrier.

The session was stopped while the slightly damaged Red Bull was recovered, eventually resuming with four minutes of session time remaining. All 18 remaining drivers took to the track for at least three final laps, but there were no improvements to personal best times, leaving Sainz as the fastest driver on his 29th birthday.

Norris was second for McLaren, ahead of Perez in third despite his session-ending spin. Piastri was fourth in the second McLaren, followed by Verstappen in fifth and Leclerc sixth. Albon was seventh for Williams, ahead of Fernando Alonso, George Russell and the two Haas cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen tenth and 11th.

2023 Italian Grand Prix second practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’21.355		23
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.374	0.019	19
3	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.540	0.185	17
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.545	0.190	21
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.631	0.276	20
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’21.716	0.361	23
7	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’21.979	0.624	19
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’22.071	0.716	16
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’22.176	0.821	20
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.291	0.936	19
11	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.574	1.219	21
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.595	1.240	19
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.651	1.296	22
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’22.696	1.341	23
15	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.716	1.361	22
16	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’22.755	1.400	24
17	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’22.783	1.428	23
18	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’23.167	1.812	23
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’23.346	1.991	20
20	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	No time		2

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