Bottas ahead of Hamilton but Vettel just a tenth off pace; Red Bulls a second down while McLaren best of rest; Sainz suffers engine failure
Saturday 30 September 2017 09:11, UK
Valtteri Bottas led another Mercedes one-two in Practice Two for the Italian GP but Ferrari closed to within touching distance of the Silver Arrows at Monza.
After Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets on Friday morning, Bottas' 1:21.406 was five hundredths of a second quicker than his team-mate in the second session.
But championship leader Sebastian Vettel was just a tenth down on Bottas' time, having been over a second off the pace in Practice One, suggesting it will be another close battle between Mercedes and Ferrari at the Scuderia's home circuit.
With Kimi Raikkonen in fourth, the two rivals were well clear of the rest of the field with the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo over a second off the best time.
It was also tight between Mercedes and Ferrari on long-run pace, but the Silver Arrows had a slight advantage on both tyre compounds in their race simulations, which will boost Hamilton as he looks to take the lead of the world championship for the first time this season.
"It looks quite close between us and the Ferraris, so I anticipate it's going to be similar to the last race," said Hamilton.
"We are OK, but we are not quite where l think we can be," Vettel said. "I know and we know we have to improve to go with them. They are very quick."
Surprisingly, McLaren were best of the rest around the power-hungry circuit with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso seventh and eighth, although the latter is facing a 35-place grid demotion for Honda engine penalties.
The pair once again practised slipstreaming with McLaren set to try and use a tow to get Vandoorne as high up the grid as possible in Saturday's qualifying session.
However, there was frustration for Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard, already facing a 10-place grid drop, saw his session cut short with smoke pouring out of the rear of his Toro Rosso.
Kevin Magnussen's session also ended prematurely after the suspension broke on his Haas.
The top 10 was completed by Esteban Ocon and Felipe Massa while, after a disappointing morning session, Renault improved in the afternoon with Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer 12th and 13th respectively.
