FP2 Results 2026 Italian GP: Russell Tops Leclerc at Monza

George Russell topped second practice at Monza, and for once that headline actually matters. His championship leader Kimi Antonelli starts Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after an engine change, which means the man 59 points behind him in the standings just got handed a proper opportunity to claw some points back.

FP1 belonged to Charles Leclerc and a Ferrari one-two, a session already covered in our FP1 report from Monza. FP2 told a different story, and it’s the one that actually matters heading into qualifying.

Russell Finds More Than a Tenth of Daylight

Russell went 0.120 seconds quicker than Leclerc on the soft-tyre qualifying simulation, with Kimi Antonelli third for Mercedes. That’s a tidy Mercedes-Ferrari sandwich at the top of the timesheet, and on a track where straight-line speed and low drag usually flatter Ferrari, Russell putting Mercedes back on top will have raised a few eyebrows on the Maranello pit wall.

Antonelli’s championship lead over Russell stands at 59 points with 11 races still to run, so nobody is pretending this is suddenly a title fight. But a driver who has to start from the back at Monza, a circuit where overtaking is at least theoretically possible thanks to the long straights, is a driver who could easily leave Italy having gained nothing, or worse. Russell starting from a position of strength changes the maths for this one weekend even if it changes nothing on the overall table. Antonelli’s penalty was confirmed earlier this week, as reported in our piece on the grid penalties handed to Antonelli and Albon.

Norris Ahead of Hamilton, McLaren Quietly There

Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who ended up nearly half a second off Russell’s pace in fifth. That’s not a great look for a seven-time champion at a circuit where Ferrari are supposed to be strong, though one soft-tyre run on a Friday afternoon rarely tells the full story. Oscar Piastri was sixth in the second McLaren, ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad and Oliver Bearman, the only Haas driver running Ferrari’s upgraded engine this weekend.

Verstappen’s Downforce Complaint

Max Verstappen finished ninth on his return to the car, having sat out FP1 so Ayumu Iwasa could complete mandatory rookie running. Verstappen wasn’t happy, complaining of a lack of downforce, and Red Bull called him in to swap the front wing mid-session. It wasn’t just talk either: Verstappen was slower than Lindblad’s Racing Bulls and Bearman’s Haas, which is not exactly the reference point a four-time champion wants to be measured against on a Friday. Whatever Red Bull tried with the wing, it clearly wasn’t the full fix, and there’s now a genuine scramble overnight to find some low-speed grip before qualifying.

Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten in his second outing deputising for Liam Lawson, who has replaced the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, whose absence was outlined in our report on Red Bull’s decision not to rush Hadjar back. Liam Lawson, now filling Hadjar’s actual seat rather than standing in for him, was down in 12th, behind Verstappen and comfortably behind Tsunoda, which is an awkward one for Red Bull’s driver-management headache heading into 2027 speculation.

Midfield Mess and a Grim Afternoon for Aston Martin

Franco Colapinto was 11th for Alpine, ahead of Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and Gabriel Bortoleto’s second Audi in 15th. The Williams pair of Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz were 16th and 17th, ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Haas. Fernando Alonso took 19th, at least outrunning both Cadillacs and his own Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll, who was slowest of the entire field in 22nd. Given Stroll’s near miss with Norris in an earlier session this weekend, a session covered in our piece on the stewards’ investigation into that incident, it has not been a weekend to remember for the Canadian so far.

What Actually Matters Before Qualifying

Strip away the lap times and the story here is simple. Russell is fast, Antonelli starts from the back, and Monza is one of the few tracks left this season where that combination could genuinely produce a points swing rather than the usual procession. Verstappen, meanwhile, looks like a man fighting his car rather than the opposition, which is not where Red Bull wanted to be heading into a circuit that traditionally flatters low-drag packages. Qualifying on Saturday at 14:00 UTC will tell us whether Friday’s pace was real or just a soft-tyre mirage, check the calendar for your local time.

Full FP2 Classification, Italian Grand Prix