Italian GP: Hamilton beats Rosberg by 0.021s in second practice

Hamilton lapped in 1m24.279s on the soft-compound Pirelli tyre, with Rosberg just 0.021s slower.

The Mercedes duo had a seven-tenth buffer over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, while the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg impressed to push Kimi Raikkonen down to sixth. 

Story of the session

Raikkonen set an early benchmark of 1m26.684s on the medium tyre, which was quickly eclipsed by teammate Vettel on 1m26.548s.

Hulkenberg went quickest with 1m26.439s, before Vettel struck back on 1m26.252s.

The Mercedes duo appeared 15 minutes into the session, Hamilton immediately going P1 on 1m25.683s before Rosberg managed 1m25.617s seconds later.

Hamilton lowered his time to 1m25.285s, with Rosberg improving to 1m25.451s, with Hamilton then further improving to 1m25.133s to open out a 0.318s gap over his teammate.

Hulkenberg was the first to try the soft tyre, setting a 1m25.720s to go third, with Vettel doing likewise to leapfrog him and split the Mercedes duo with 1m25.136s. Hulkenberg improved on his second flying lap to 1m25.325s.

Vettel went fastest on 1m25.038s on a second flying lap on the softs, but the Mercedes pairing proved they were in a different league again when they switched to the faster tyre.

Hamilton set a 1m24.279s but failed to improve on his second attempt. Rosberg managed 1m24.300s, 0.021s in arrears, and looked set to improve on his second attempt before losing time in the final sector.

Hamilton was only 0.4s faster on the soft than he managed on fresh mediums in FP1 this morning.

Force India’s Sergio Perez went fourth fastest on 1m25.278s, 0.999s down on Hamilton’s pace but ahead of Hulkenberg and Raikkonen.

Lotus’s Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were seventh and eighth quickest respectively, ahead of Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

The Renault- and Honda-powered cars struggled as expected on this power circuit. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was 13^th, almost 2s off the pace, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen.

Fernando Alonso was quickest of the McLaren in 16^th, while the troubled Jenson Button – who spent most of the session in the garage – and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat failed to outpace even the Manors.

Trio hits trouble

Ricciardo suffered gearbox issues 15 minutes into the session: “Do not shift gear,” he was told, reporting back that he was stuck in first due to a hydraulic problem.

Grosjean took a gravelly excursion at the Ascari chicane, while Verstappen had a huge spin there – just avoiding the barrier, and managing to drive out of the gravel trap.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:24.279		27
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:24.300	0.021	35
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:25.038	0.759	36
4	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:25.278	0.999	34
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:25.325	1.046	43
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:25.380	1.101	39
7	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:25.497	1.218	41
8	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:25.513	1.234	41
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:25.647	1.368	34
10	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:25.891	1.612	31
11	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:26.114	1.835	30
12	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:26.133	1.854	32
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:26.222	1.943	27
14	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:26.454	2.175	38
15	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:26.641	2.362	50
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:26.966	2.687	31
17	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:28.201	3.922	29
18	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:28.439	4.160	27
19	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:28.471	4.192	3
20	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	1:28.723	4.444	28