Vettel Fastest Despite Spin While Ericsson Has Major Crash

Sebastian Vettel topped the timing sheets in Free Practice 2 at the Italian Grand Prix despite a spin into the barriers.

The Scuderia Ferrari spun at the final corner and went through the gravel before lightly tapping the barriers. The German kept the engine running and was able to limp back to the pits and returned to the track later in the session.

That was the second incident of the session as the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team of Marcus Ericsson brought out the red flag less than three minutes into the session when he crashed heavily at turn one after a suspected DRS issue.

The Swede gave the fans a thumbs up when he exited his stricken Sauber but the issue effected team-mate Charles Leclerc throughout the session but Leclerc was able to finish in the top ten.

The tifosi at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza had reason to celebrate on Friday evening as Kimi Räikkönen was second fastest behind Vettel.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport were third and fourth fastest with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Valtteri Bottas with the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing duo fifth and sixth, Max Verstappen ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Racing Point Force India F1 Team continued their good form as Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez finished best of the rest ahead of Leclerc and Nico Hülkenberg, who rounded out the top ten.

The other Renault Sport Formula One Team machine of Carlos Sainz Jr. was twelfth fastest, sandwiched between the two Haas F1 Team drivers, Romain Grosjean ahead and Kevin Magnussen behind the Spaniard.

The Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda of Pierre Gasly was fourteenth fastest with team-mate Brendon Hartley sixteenth as the two Williams Martini Racing cars were fifteenth and seventeenth, Sergey Sirotkin getting the better of Lance Stroll.

It looks to be another tough weekend for McLaren F1 Team with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne the two slowest drivers in the session but it was the Ferrari’s who look to be on top heading into the weekend.