Hamilton fastest as Sainz crashes heavily in final Italian GP practice
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Valtteri Bottas, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crashed heavily.
Running on soft tyres, Hamilton was 0.222s ahead of Bottas, who will start at the head of the field for F1’s second-ever sprint race at Monza on Saturday afternoon.
Max Verstappen was third-quickest on the medium compound, 0.416s down on his main championship rival as he headed Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen heads into this weekend’s Italian GP holding a three-point advantage over Hamilton after back-to-back victories in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The final 60-minute practice session was interrupted by a red flag following a hefty shunt for Sainz, who lost control of his Ferrari at the Ascari chicane and speared into the barriers on the left-hand side.
Sainz walked away from the incident unscathed and has been preliminary cleared during initial checks at the track medical centre after his head was seen moving violently in the impact.
“I had a massive crash”,” the Spaniard reported over team radio, before adding: “That hurt a bit, but I am okay.”
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