Vettel fastest despite Parabolica spin in Monza FP2

Sebastian Vettel headed up a one-two finish for Ferrari in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix despite narrowly avoiding major damage to his Formula 1 car in a spin at Parabolica.

Following a wet FP1 that saw Vettel’s car undergo a gearbox change, Ferrari bounced back with an impressive display through second practice in front of its loyal Tifosi fanbase.

After making a mistake early in his qualifying simulation, Vettel managed to turn in a fastest time of 1m21.105s on the Supersoft tyre on his third push lap, getting a tow from another car heading onto the main straight.

The lap saw Vettel finish two-tenths of a second clear of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the head of the timesheets, but the German’s session took a turn for the worse after he spun off the track at Parabolica with 30 minutes remaining in the session.

Having set a new fastest time in Sector 1 on his fifth push lap on the same set of Supersoft tyres, Vettel spun off the track at the final Parabolica corner, with the rear of his Ferrari car nudging the barrier as he came to rest.

Vettel managed to keep his engine running and get out of the gravel before returning to the pits, where his car was found to have sustained rear wing damage. Ferrari managed to get Vettel back out in the final 10 minutes of the session after resolving the issue.

Vettel’s spin came following a big crash for Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson in the opening minutes of the session at Turn 1, with the Swede’s DRS failing under braking.

The crash saw Ericsson hit the barrier at high speed, causing his car to roll at least three times before coming to rest, causing a red flag stoppage. Ericsson walked away from his car unassisted before being cleared by medical staff at Monza soon after the incident.

Mercedes managed to finish as the best of the rest behind Ferrari in FP2 as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished third and fourth respectively. Hamilton managed to take advantage of a tow on his lap to finish just two-tenths of a second back from Vettel, with Bottas finishing a further four-tenths back.

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo ended the session fifth and sixth, although neither could get to within one second of Vettel’s time.

Force India led the midfield pack with Esteban Ocon in seventh ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, while Charles Leclerc managed to take ninth for Sauber after the team completed a number of checks on his DRS to ensure there was no repeat of Ericsson’s incident.

Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 for Renault, finishing two places ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. as Romain Grosjean split the pair for Haas. Kevin Magnussen took 13th ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, with Sergey Sirotkin finishing 15th for Williams.

Brendon Hartley ended FP2 16th in the second Toro Rosso ahead of Williams’ Lance Stroll, with the McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne following in 18th and 19th respectively, split by three-tenths of a second.

Ericsson propped up the timesheets for Sauber after failing to record a lap time before the crash on his first flying lap.