Lando Norris headed the field on Wednesday’s test at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza although conditions were not favourable for drivers to prepare themselves for this weekend’s second round of the season at the Italian track.
A wet track and rain compromised everyone, which for those coming to the track for the first time meant they were not able to learn as much about the circuit as they would have liked.
Norris, the winner of race one at the opening round of the season at Silverstone two weeks ago, was fastest in both the morning and afternoon sessions for Carlin, with the time in the second session of 1:58.828s being the fastest overall as conditions briefly improved.
Honda-protégé Tadasuke Makino impressed by setting the second fastest time in both sessions, with the Japanese Hitech Grand Prix driver 0.221 seconds down on Norris’ best, while Maximilian Günther was third in the leading Prema Powerteam entry.
Callum Ilott, winner of race three at Silverstone, was fourth fastest in the afternoon for Prema ahead of fellow Briton Jake Dennis of Carlin, while Ralf Aron of Hitech Grand Prix was sixth.
Jehan Daruvala placed seventh for Carlin ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Piquet, while Ferdinand Habsburg and Guan Yu Zhou completed the top ten.
The morning session had seen the same top three of Norris, Makino and Günther, while championship leader Joel Eriksson was fourth for Motopark on his first visit to the circuit. He finished ahead of Ilott, Habsburg and Daruvala, while Harrison Newey, Dennis and Nikita Mazepin rounded out the top ten.
There were two red flags during the afternoon, one to recover Mazepin’s car after the Russian stopped on track, while the second was to clear up a crash for David Beckmann.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Test Day Combined Results
[table id=1916 /]
