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End of day
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, have a good weekend and see you then!
Read more The Friday drivers of Formula 1 2026 at a glance
Photos: F1: Grand Prix of Italy (Monza) 2026
Mercedes: Ferrari is favorite
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 with showed strong pace at different times today. We take nothing for granted but are glad to seem to be in the fight.”
Warning for Stroll
And at the end of the day we can also reveal that Lance Stroll gets away with a warning for the incident against Lando Norris. The race stewards also issue a warning against the team because it was assumed that Norris was on a slow lap – which was not true.
The scene is available here again in video:
Honda: “Countermeasures” work
At the very beginning of the day we reported on the measures Honda wanted to take for this weekend. Shintaro Orihara is satisfied after the first two practice sessions.
“We were able to take 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 speed on the straight compared to our competitors is not enough,” he also admits.
Fernando Alonso was 19th today, Lance Stroll 22nd and thus last.
McLaren: New rear wing works
Neil Houldey from McLaren explains after today’s sessions: “We are quite satisfied with the balance of the car in the 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 tests at the factory, and we now expect it to provide additional performance over the course of the weekend.”
“Our focus tonight is on fine-tuning energy management, as there are still opportunities to gain lap time through better recovery and use of energy,” 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 more hopeful than confident.”
Read more Montoya warns about Norris: «It will be hard to stop him»
Gasly angry: “We were robbed”
The Frenchman spoke again to Canal+ about his lost podium and explains: “I think we were robbed, and I think this is not over yet.”
“There are many interpretation questions and many legal disputes in the offices about points that go beyond the purely sporting aspect. It is quite sad to see results decided because of such events,” says Gasly.
“On the track we finished third,” he recalls and explains he will now leave the next steps to the team.
Verstappen: First practice missing now
The Dutchman was among the drivers who skipped FP1. Red Bull’s Pierre Wache explains: “We clearly have a problem with the balance of the car. That is the main problem.” It’s “a bit like in Zandvoort,” he says.
“What is not exactly helpful: When Max does not drive in the first practice and then only gets into the car in the second practice, we have less time to react and now have to react for the third practice,” 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.
Hamilton: Lose six tenths on the straights
According to Mercedes, Ferrari has caught up through the engine update. Lewis Hamilton also emphasizes that the engine in Monza is “an improvement.” But he also reports: “The speed on the straights 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 now needs to be looked at.
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 the car will probably be reverted, he announces.
Read more Angry Briatore accuses bias: A judge is close to McLaren!