Long Runs Close the Gap: Italian Grand Prix 2026 Practice

Charles Leclerc topped FP1 at Monza in the morning heat. George Russell took it back in FP2, by a tenth over Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli, as track temperatures pushed past 57 degrees Celsius. The headline times only tell part of Friday’s story. Long-run data from FP1 puts Antonelli and Leclerc just over a tenth apart on representative Medium-tyre pace, with Russell and Lando Norris a little over two tenths back despite Norris carrying older rubber into his stint. Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren look a lot closer than the top of Friday’s timesheet suggests. A Norris-Stroll clash is now under investigation. Bearman’s climbed into the top 10 for Haas. And Antonelli’s locked into a back-of-grid start on Sunday regardless of how fast he’s been all day.

Key Points: F1 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Practice

• Russell tops FP2 with a 1:22.559 lap on the softs, edging Leclerc by 0.120s and Antonelli by 0.141s; Leclerc had led FP1 in 1:23.008
• Long-run pace tells a tighter story than the headline laps: Antonelli and Leclerc just over a tenth apart on representative Medium running in FP1, Russell and Norris a little over two tenths back despite Norris starting his stint on older tyres
• Norris and Stroll under stewards investigation for a Turn 1 incident in FP2, noted for impeding
• Bearman climbs to P8 in FP2 on a Haas upgrade weekend; Bearman running both the aero and engine parts, Ocon on the aero package alone, per team radio reports
• Antonelli quickest on FP1 long-run pace but confirmed for a back-of-grid start Sunday after new power unit components
• Track temperatures topped 57°C in FP2; Sunday’s forecast heat points teams toward a Medium-Hard one-stop with the Soft looking marginal

FP1: Leclerc Sets the Pace

The top spot changed hands seven times before the red flag. Leclerc went provisional fastest just after 10:34, lost it to Russell inside twenty seconds, and took it back within three minutes. Lawson jumped both of them shortly after, only for Hamilton to go quickest at 10:42 and Norris to answer a minute later. Russell reclaimed it at 10:44, Norris responded again before the hour was out, and that was as far as anyone got. Colton Herta’s Cadillac stopped near the Lesmos complex minutes later, a Virtual Safety Car giving way to a red flag that halted the session for over eight minutes.

Running resumed at 10:56 for one last push. Antonelli led briefly, Russell went above him, and at 11:00:08 Leclerc crossed the line on a 1:23.008 that stood for the rest of the session. It came on a Medium, which makes the time notable. Hamilton followed 0.173s back, Russell completing the top three.

Track limits deletions were a constant theme through both the morning and the restart, Turns 1, 4 and 5 the main offenders, catching Browning, Lindblad, Hamilton, Antonelli and others across the hour.

The sectors show a genuine split at the front. Leclerc had the fastest first sector of the top 10, Russell the fastest middle sector, Hamilton the fastest final sector, three different drivers sharing the honours across the three splits. Two stand-ins filled seats in FP1, Ayumu Iwasa in for Max Verstappen at Red Bull and Colton Herta in for Sergio Perez at Cadillac, both back in their own cars for FP2.

FP1 Sector Splits — Top 10

Bold indicates fastest sector across the top 10.

FP2: Russell Strikes Back

Antonelli set the early tone on the Hard, a 1:23.417 that held while the field worked through its opening runs in track temperatures already past 55°C. Once the softs came out Russell moved to the front, two tenths clear of his teammate. Leclerc had the last word of the opening flurry, going quickest by 0.007s just before half past two. It didn’t last. Russell answered within ninety seconds, and at 14:33:25 crossed the line on a 1:22.559 that held for the rest of the hour, Leclerc 0.120s back and Antonelli completing the top three.

Not everything went smoothly behind them. Norris and Stroll came together at Turn 1, the stewards noting the incident during the session and confirming a post-session investigation for impeding shortly after. Leclerc lost the rear and spun later in the session, no contact but tyres wrecked for the rest of that run. Further back, Bearman worked his way into the top 10 on Haas’s upgraded car, climbing ahead of Verstappen by the chequered flag.

FP2 Classification

FP2 Sector Splits — Top 10

Bold indicates fastest sector across the top 10.

The sectors back up how tight FP2 actually was. Russell had the fastest first sector of the top 10, Antonelli the fastest middle sector for Mercedes, and Leclerc the fastest final sector of anyone. Three different drivers, three different strengths, all inside a tenth or two of each other by the time the lap adds up.

The Long-Run Read

The lap times tell one story. The long runs tell another. Representative pace data from FP1 puts Antonelli’s Medium-tyre average at 1:26.300, with Leclerc just over a tenth behind at 1:26.429. Russell and Norris sit a little over two tenths off that pace, at 1:26.525 and 1:26.517 respectively, Norris carrying more tyre age into his stint than the group ahead of him.

FP1 Long Run Comparison — Medium Tyre

Source: Formula Live Pulse, raw degradation curve. FP2 long-run data not yet supplied. Leclerc’s slope is a clear outlier here and likely reflects an interrupted or traffic-affected stint rather than genuine tyre wear; the medians above are the reliable figures, the slopes should be read with caution. Negative slopes for Antonelli and Russell likely reflect fuel burn or track evolution across the stint rather than the tyre getting faster.

That’s a different picture to the one Leclerc’s morning benchmark suggested. Ferrari’s single-lap pace was real. So was Mercedes’ and McLaren’s speed once the focus shifted from qualifying simulation to sustained running. FP2 backed that up on track, the top six covered by well under half a second once the softs came out. Whatever separates these three teams on Saturday, it isn’t likely to be much.

The Grid’s Updates for Monza

Ferrari’s package was the most joined-up of the weekend. Four components, floor board, mirror stay, rear corner and RV tail, all filed under the same drag-range heading, the team describing it as one package built specifically around Monza’s aerodynamic efficiency demands.

McLaren brought a two-part drag package of their own: reworked rear wing flap and beam wing positioning for Straight Line Mode, plus updated floor furniture aimed at flow conditioning and further drag reduction.

Mercedes trimmed rather than transformed, removing rear wing winglets and shaving the mirror stays, both filed as drag-range changes rather than a genuine performance step.

Red Bull brought four separate items: a revised rear corner gaitor for reliability, a bib edge revision on the floor for evaluation, a trimmed exhaust tailpipe bracket, and a revised front wing endplate vane, the mix split between reliability and outright load rather than one coherent theme.

Aston Martin’s development has reportedly been building for weeks, an aero package first fitted in Hungary followed by a Honda-related update at Zandvoort. Monza brings a further step: a revised front suspension fairing and updated floor edge geometry ahead of the rear tyre, both filed under local load rather than drag reduction.

Haas brought the most substantial package of the weekend outside Ferrari’s: a new front floor with reworked side geometry and diffuser, new sidepod and coke-line bodywork with a narrower roll-hoop, and realigned rear suspension fairings and drum deflectors to match. Team radio reports through FP2 suggested Bearman is running both the aero and engine-related parts this weekend, with Ocon on the aero package alone, though that specific split hasn’t been confirmed through official team documentation. Bearman’s climb to P8 in FP2, ahead of Verstappen, is at least consistent with it.

Williams introduced a Halo fence, a reworked front wing rearward element and a floor board trim, split between drag and balance. Racing Bulls brought a new rear wing assembly with an updated Straight Line Mode mechanism, plus a repositioned exhaust tailpipe for flow management. Alpine revised its front wing endplate vane for load and removed the SM pod fairing on the rear wing for drag. Cadillac updated its forward floor board stay position and added a diffuser vane. Audi declared nothing for this event.

Behind the Front Three

Lindblad continues to look right at home at the sharp end of the midfield, seventh in FP1 and seventh again in FP2. Bearman climbed to eighth in FP2 on Haas’s new floor and bodywork, ahead of Verstappen for the session. Red Bull’s Friday was a mixed one: Iwasa stood in for Verstappen in FP1 and finished 17th, before Verstappen himself returned for FP2 and could only manage ninth, the car not obviously suited to Monza’s demands so far this weekend. Lawson, meanwhile, got through 37 laps in FP2, more than anyone else on the grid, Red Bull clearly working through a heavy programme on his side of the garage. Tsunoda completed the top 10 in both sessions for Racing Bulls, a solid if unspectacular Friday alongside his teammate.

Conditions and the Tyre Picture for Sunday

Heat was the story running underneath everything on Friday. Track temperatures peaked at 53.8°C in FP1 and touched 57°C early in FP2, before easing slightly to finish the session in the low 50s. Sunday’s forecast points to similar conditions, with ambient temperatures expected around 35°C.

That heat is already shaping the conversation for race day. Early indications point toward a Medium-Hard one-stop, with the Soft compound looking too marginal to hold up over a long stint in this kind of temperature. Nothing’s confirmed until Pirelli and the teams have more running to go on.

Straight-line speed told its own story at the fastest track on the calendar. Sainz topped the FP2 speed trap at 334.0 km/h, with Hamilton next up at 331.4 km/h, both of them well clear of the pace-setters at the top of the timesheet, a reminder that Monza’s low-downforce demands reward a very different set of numbers to the ones that actually decide lap time here.

Coffee Corner Take

So we have a fight, with Leclerc topping FP1 to the delight of the home crowd, and Russell topping FP2. Neither number tells you what’s actually going on underneath.

The long runs are where we start to see the real story from Monza on Friday. Antonelli and Leclerc a tenth apart on the Medium. Russell and Norris not far behind, and Norris was doing it on older rubber. That’s three teams, four drivers, separated by fractions once the cars are loaded up and running like they will on Sunday. Ferrari had the stronger benchmark in FP1. Mercedes have the fastest lap of the weekend so far, from FP2. Nobody has a clear advantage going into Saturday, and that’s the Friday takeaway as the teams learn how these power units will do around Monza.

Antonelli’s the strange one. Fastest long-run pace in the field and he’s starting from the back on Sunday. New power unit, no way around it, and every point he scores this weekend he’ll be earning the hard way. Worth remembering when the race actually happens. Just where can the home hero get back to.

Bearman in the top 10 with a fresh upgrade behind him is one to keep a watchful eye on into qualifying.

The heat isn’t going anywhere. Track temperatures past 57 degrees on Friday, similar again forecast for Sunday. The Soft already looks marginal in these temperatures, although the teams are clearly seeing if it may stand up to the testing conditions as we anticipate a one-stop on Sunday. Tiny margins at the front, extreme heat all weekend, and the championship leader fighting back from the back of the grid. Monza’s given us plenty to take into Saturday.