Monza Friday: Mercedes disrupts Ferrari party, Gasly loses Monaco podium

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That brings us to the end of our Friday ticker. Tomorrow continues with FP3 (12:30) and of course the important qualifying (16:00). Then we will be back for you with a new ticker.

Have a nice evening, enjoy your weekend and see you then!

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Despite the best time of the day, George Russell explains: “Ferrari looked very competitive and still seems to be the benchmark to beat. We also know how strong McLaren has been recently, and I have no doubt they will be up front tomorrow.”

Andrew Shovlin adds: “In terms of performance, it definitely looks close. All the teams we are fighting against have shown strong pace at different times today. We take nothing for granted but are glad to be in the fight.”

And towards the end of the day, we can also reveal that Lance Stroll gets a warning for the incident against Lando Norris. The race stewards also issue a warning to the team because it was assumed Norris was on a slow lap – which was not true.

The scene is available here again in video:

At the very start of the day, we reported on the measures Honda wanted to take for this weekend. Shintaro Orihara is satisfied after the first two sessions.

“We were able to implement some countermeasures here, and they work as expected. That confirms the direction we need to take, and we will continue to improve,” he says optimistically.

“We had no major reliability issues in the two sessions today, which is also positive. However, as we can see from the results, our straight-line speed compared to our competitors is not sufficient,” he also admits.

Fernando Alonso was 19th today, Lance Stroll 22nd and thus last.

Neil Houldey from McLaren explains after today’s sessions: “We are quite satisfied with the car’s balance in high and low-speed sections, even though we are still about three tenths away from our target.”

“The new H-wing has proven itself well, as we expected after the factory tests, and we now expect it to provide additional performance throughout the weekend.”

“Our focus tonight is on fine-tuning energy management, as there are still opportunities to gain lap time through better energy recovery and usage,” says Houldey.

He also emphasizes: “Looking ahead to qualifying, it will certainly be difficult to fight for pole from our current position. So we remain hopeful rather than confident.”

The Frenchman spoke again to Canal+ about his lost podium and explains: “I believe we were robbed, and I think this is not over yet.”

“There are many interpretation issues and many legal disputes in offices about points that go beyond the purely sporting aspect. It’s quite sad to see results decided because of such events,” says Gasly.

“On the track, we finished third,” he recalls and says he will now leave the next steps to the team.

The Dutchman was among the drivers who skipped FP1. Red Bull’s Pierre Wache explains: “We clearly have a problem with the car’s balance. That is the main issue.” It’s “a bit like in Zandvoort,” he says.

“What doesn’t help: When Max doesn’t drive in the first session and only gets in the car in the second session, we have less time to react and now have to react for the third session,” explains Wache.

“The main goal is to be at the front and get on the podium. Let’s see what we can achieve,” he says.

According to Mercedes, Ferrari has caught up due to the engine update. Lewis Hamilton also emphasizes that the engine in Monza is “an improvement.” But he also reports: “Straight-line speed is an important factor to keep an eye on.”

“If I only look at the time differences there, I lost about six tenths to George [Russell] on the straights alone,” he emphasizes and explains that this needs to be looked at now.

Apart from that, the balance was not ideal after some changes. “For some reason, [the car] was not easy to drive in FP2,” says Hamilton. Now they will probably revert the car, he announces.

A small side note: Kimi Antonelli was clocked at 80.1 km/h in FP2. The limit is only 80, so an exceedance of a whopping 0.1 km/h – and a fine for Mercedes of 100 euros. They will be able to handle that.

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For the first time in a long time, a Haas made it into the top 10 today. Oliver Bearman says after P8: “It was a good day. Really positive. Definitely our best Friday, probably since March or April.”

“The driving feel is like night and day. In this respect, we have made a huge, huge step forward,” says Bearman about the Haas upgrade this weekend.

“I’m really proud of the team because we hoped and relied on this upgrade to be a step forward – and that’s exactly what it has become,” he says.

Teammate Esteban Ocon struggled significantly, finishing only 18th.

With P9 and P12, the Bulls will of course not be satisfied, but Liam Lawson emphasizes: “It was okay. I would say it was a productive day. We spent most of FP2 on long runs.”

“At the start, we did a short run and felt good,” he reports and adds: “In Zandvoort, I had more difficulties in the race than in qualifying. So I will try to learn as much as possible from that.”

That his actual team is doing so well in Monza is “no surprise” to him, he says. The Racing Bulls finished today in P7 and P10.

The Alpine driver was doing well in FP1 but missed the top 10 in FP2. He reports: “That was a good step. Even when I went out in the first session, I was quite impressed.”

“The car was pretty good and has made big progress compared to the last races,” says Colapinto, who is running the Alpine upgrade for the first time this weekend.

“The long run was very good, and then for some reason we lost a lot of pace in FP2,” he ponders after P11. Now they have to find out why.

The world champion is not satisfied after P4 and explains: “Not exactly thrilling. We just have a lot more problems with the pace. To be honest: In the corners where we should be good, we are bad.”

“And in the corners where we expected to have problems, we are not that bad, but still a bit off. So at the moment, it doesn’t look very good,” says Norris.

“Let’s see what we can do overnight. But it will definitely be harder than before,” emphasizes the Brit, who won the last two races in Hungary and Zandvoort.

But this time he “definitely does not feel that we are in the fight for pole position,” he makes clear.

The championship leader reveals after P3 today, not surprisingly, that he focused more on long runs. Because qualifying doesn’t matter to him anyway due to his grid penalty.

“It was a bit strange, I want to be honest,” he admits. “But overall it was a good day. We collected a lot of data and are now looking forward to the next days,” he emphasizes.

About the competition, Antonelli says: “Ferrari has definitely made a step forward with the new engine, and now the speeds are at the same level.”

“We know how good their car is in the corners. So it will certainly be a very, very close fight for pole position tomorrow,” he announces.

He himself will not play a role in this.

Before we get more voices from Monza, we have something for all Schumi fans first. Netflix has now released an official trailer for the documentary “Schumacher ’94.” You can watch it here:

Expert Martin Brundle says on Sky after Russell’s best time: “He made a good impression. This is his big chance to catch up the gap [in the championship] this weekend.”

“These are now key races for George Russell,” he emphasizes and explains that if the Brit falls too far behind Antonelli in the championship, he could soon slip into the role of number 2 driver.

He might then have to drive for Antonelli “if McLaren or Ferrari attack his lead in the championship.”

Jolyon Palmer sees it very similarly.

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