Mercedes continued to lead the way at Monza with Nico Rosberg taking over at the top of the times from team mate Lewis Hamilton.
The first practice pace setter was confined to the pits with an electrical problem for most of the session while Rosberg headed the times on a 1’26.225. That was three-hundredths of a second slower than Hamilton’s quickest time from the morning session.
Hamilton joined the track with half an hour remaining in second practice, which gave him sufficient time to make his performance run on the medium tyres. Despite being held up by Marcus Ericsson’s Caterham he ended up just six-hundredths of a second behind his team mate.
Ferrari led the charge against Mercedes at their home track, with Kimi Raikkonen fastest of all through the first sector and ending up just a tenth of a second off Rosberg. Fernando Alonso backed him up in fourth place.
Valtteri Bottas put his Williams in the top five, the first of three drivers separated by a mere four-thousandths of a second. Behind him were Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel, who set identical times to three decimal places, Button being the first of the two to do so.
The McLaren driver ended his session with a substantial lock-up at the Rettifilio chicane after attempting to pass Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso.
Daniel Ricciardo bounced back from his problem in the first practice session to put his Red Bull in the top ten.
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Malcolm Tucker (@malcolmtucker)
5th September 2014, 14:34
Why was Button’s tyre covered in duct tape at the end of the session? To hide the flat spot from prying eyes I presume? I’ve never noticed that before
na
5th September 2014, 15:34
Glad I am not the only one who saw that, no explanation offered by anyone at the time, sky or bbc
himmatsj (@himmatsj)
5th September 2014, 14:53
Wow, Marussia seem to be on par with Lotus this week on pace. They were close in FP1, and in FP2 Bianchi got the better of both Lotuses. After 4/5 years, backmarkers they are no more. They are in the midfield!
Steve Webb (@s-w-webb1)
5th September 2014, 14:56
Depending how you look at it, it looks just as much like no more Midfield for Lotus. They are backmarkers!
DaveW (@dmw)
5th September 2014, 15:18
Look at the front of the car. Look at the back. No one else is running this cockamamie aero concept. The time is long since past for wondering whether this is actually a genius concept let down by poor execution. If the plan is to be in F1 next year, better bin this whole concept and start over starting right now. The new rules on nose profile basically make this entire concept obsolescent anyway.
kpcart
5th September 2014, 15:57
even taking in the poor Renault engine, Lotus are a complete failure this year. dreadful show by them, and I don’t see it getting better any time soon. maybe if they had drivers like Kubica or Raikonnen again pushing them forwards, but still they would only be 5th or 4th at best.
BaKano (@bakano)
5th September 2014, 16:31
Last year Lotus was able to be close to pace of the Red Bulls, even faster here and there. Yes, the Renault engine is a disadvantage this year but still managed to power a car to 3 race wins.
Toro-Rosso has been fighting for points in many races against Mercedes and Ferrari engines as well.
If the Lotus was a good car, they would be firmly in the middle-field, in spite of a power disadvantage. They failed big time this year.
The nose concept was a curious solution with some theoretical advantages, but either the rest of the car is crap, or the cons of the nose design were very underrated.
It is a shame that we do not have Lotus on the same form as for the past 2 years. It means we lost 2 cars (well, Grosjean at least) fighting for the leftovers of the Mercedes (podium places)
Martyn (@martynj23)
5th September 2014, 14:55
Is it safe to assume Ferrari were running pretty light on fuel?
DaveW (@dmw)
5th September 2014, 15:10
Or very low on DF, in which case the will be back to normal positions when in a qualifying/race trim. Have to see the long-runs data and sector times. No doubt though, it’s getting hot at Ferrari and the incumbents would like to post a good Q3 time at least to stave off the wrath of the Agnellis.
timi (@timi)
5th September 2014, 14:56
I would love to see the stats for times FP2 times have been slower than FP1 times. As well as those for FP3 > FP2.
Ryan (@ryanisjones)
5th September 2014, 15:14
I think the tyres that the fastest laps were set on should be added also. Maybe a little (M) or (H) next to the time.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th September 2014, 15:41
@ryanisjones For most if not all the drivers it will be hard in first practice, medium in second.
gdewilde (@gdewilde)
5th September 2014, 15:43
@ryanisjones Isn’t it customary that the best times in FP1 are done with the harder tyres (because the teams usually don’t use the softer compounds because they haven’t got a lot of them) and the ones in FP2 and FP3 are set on the softer of the two tyres (because they are simulating qualifying). It’s rare to have a faster FP2 or FP3 time set on the harder tyre.
Leonardo
5th September 2014, 16:58
Rosberg´s fastest session #2 time was made with medium tyres, and it was equal to Hamilton´s fastest in session #1. Is that correct? so there´s no advantage in using the medium tyres in the race….
DaveW (@dmw)
5th September 2014, 17:07
Or no advantage to being Nico Rosberg. With due respect to him, he has to find it rather curious that he was way behind Hamilton in FP1 (and another brand of car) and only matched Hamilton’s time in FP2 in his “fast” laps. Hamilton was hampered by his delay and an apparent bad set-up in FP2, and still matched that time as well. At the very least, one would have expected Hamilton to improve his FP1 time significantly, under normal conditions. I don’t know the true impact of his delay, but I have a feeling that Hamilton is going to be mighty strong the rest of the weekend, assuming the car holds together.
Rooney (@rojov123)
5th September 2014, 17:39
I don’t want to start a controversy, but I think Rosberg is running on a reduced engine setting compared to Hamilton this weekend. That might just be the punishment imposed by Mercedes on Rosberg for his collision during the last race. Anyone else with me on this?
Julian (@julianwins)
5th September 2014, 18:11
I highly doubt it based on what Toto has been saying to the press. Nico’s only punishment was the 6 fine I believe. It’s not in their best interest to sabotage potential WCC points.
John Well
5th September 2014, 18:20
Can you show us the proof because this is just speculation.
DeVante
5th September 2014, 18:20
Maybe. It makes sense. But they could make it more effective, delaying him in one of the FR. Oh, wait, they did it but on the wrong guy
DeVante
5th September 2014, 18:20
*FP
Robbie (@robbie)
5th September 2014, 19:39
I doubt they would penalize NR by penalizing the whole team by making him less competitive vs, for eg Williams, this weekend, not just LH.
I think his penalty might be more along the lines that he is on probation on the team and if he stands his ground again vs LH and causes loss of points to the team he will be personally fined a sum of money.
They claim to be racers to the core, to their DNA, and to still be allowing the drivers to race under the proviso they not connect, so I doubt the team would handcuff itself by intentionally lessening one car’s performance.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
5th September 2014, 15:30
I was really keeping my fingers crossed that this would finally be the race in which the new V6 will lap a track quicker than the V8, but I guess it was wishful thinking! But what surprised me, however, was that this year’s car car was quicker in Belgian FP but slower in Monza. A bit strange.
Ayrtonfan (@)
5th September 2014, 15:35
Bottas’ consistent lap times in his race sim looked good. I can see him picking up another podium behind the Mercs this weekend.
I don’t think Hamilton’s set back will cost him too much, one lap pace still looked good and assuming he gets the race set up in FP3 this will be a great hit out!!
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
5th September 2014, 16:21
@ayrtonfan12 “another podium behind the Mercs” if they finish the race ;).
Formula Indonesia (@)
5th September 2014, 16:26
Nah, I dont think they will clash again, maybe on strategic but not on contact or crash, anyway Williams looking really quick, maybe for a win?
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
5th September 2014, 16:27
I’m hoping that Mercedes duo will have more competition in order to make them think that they are not the only one out there, but we will see in Sunday.
Ayrtonfan (@)
5th September 2014, 16:35
@nidzovski
Haha- well maybe he is due to visit the top step then!!!
I want Nico to win this year, nothing against Lewis, the guy is an awesome driver, but might be a bit sentimental to see the very few father & sons to win an F1 title.
Either way I just don’t want to see that the result be different if the double points had not been in place.
Formula Indonesia (@)
5th September 2014, 16:37
Which could mean both of them retire in Abu Dhabi
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
5th September 2014, 18:44
I just want to see a fair fight. And of course may the best guy (with the best car) win the WDC! :)
Michael C
5th September 2014, 16:17
Can someone please explain how Lewis managed a 26.1 in FP1 on Hards in colder weather?
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
5th September 2014, 16:21
Have load in second session and driving race trim is a standard. That’s why.
Michael C
5th September 2014, 16:27
@nidzovsk Then why did Nico improve on his FP1 time by 0.2s on the hard?
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
5th September 2014, 16:28
He had problems in FP1.
Michael C
5th September 2014, 16:40
@nidzovsk He didn’t mention any in interviews afterwards? He must’ve just been a bit off the pace. Too much partying haha
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
5th September 2014, 16:53
Yeah maybe :). Maybe Toto said: You can’t be faster than Lewis in FP1. That is yours slap on the wrist for Spa clash. :)
Formula Indonesia (@)
5th September 2014, 16:35
Vandoorne pole was 1:31.707, while slowest runner in f1 is Ericsson 1:29,275 i think Caterham will improve again around low 1:28
BaKano (@bakano)
5th September 2014, 16:52
Any data about the maximum speeds they are achieving at Monza? some people were wondering if we would see new maximum speeds set, as it happened in Spa-Francorchamps (speeds above 350km/h recorded)
DaveW (@dmw)
5th September 2014, 17:13
Looks like the fastest was a 348.8 by Hulk.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
5th September 2014, 18:16
Trouble-free session for Kimi: Räikkönen > Alonso
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
5th September 2014, 21:58
Kimi is better than Alonso.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
6th September 2014, 12:04
@jorge-lardone
Cool down !!!
Bazza Spock (@bazza-spock)
5th September 2014, 23:17
I hasn’t been mentioned anywhere but surely the two sides of the Merc garage are still sharing data, right?
Also, great to see Kimi finally getting a handle on the red car.