Sebastian Vettel high-speed spin could not hold back Ferrari’s performance on Autodromo Nazionale Monza track. He made it to the top during second practice at the Italian Grand Prix.
Famous Parabolica corner made the German, who is lagging 17 points to top the World Drivers Championship chart, lose control of an impressive lap. He had to make a pit stop to assess the damage done by the incident. Light damage to rear wing was repaired before he took off for another run.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who is leading the championship, failed to make it to the top during practice sessions. Both Ferrari’s lead the second practice with Kimi Raikkonen as runner up while the British was third fastest.
Malfunctioning F1 Sauber threatened Marcus Ericsson life, when his car flipped in a high speed fatal crash. DRS caused the crash, which was malfunctioning and remained the problem for his team mate, Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton, due to his errors on the track, couldn’t expose true pace of his Mercedes. He ran wide at second chicane, even on his fastest laps.
“We did plenty of laps this afternoon in the dry and we could see that, like in Spa, we had a small gap to Ferrari on both the short and the long runs,” said Hamilton.
“My laps felt pretty good, but Ferrari was a little bit quicker today. We’re all working flat out right now in every part of the team, and we have work to do tonight as well – but there are some areas where we can see deficits, so I hope we can make a little step for qualifying.
“It has been a big battle for a number of races now, and they have had a small advantage since the middle of the summer, but we are pushing as hard as we can to overcome that.”
Vettel’s performance with his Ferrari’s pace has pushed Mercedes on the back foot in Italy. He remained ahead of Hamilton, who tried different racing schemes. The British remained at least 0.2 seconds in every run, which strengthened Ferrari’s confidence at their home track.
If Ferrari manages to keep their performance trend, Mercedes will have to put extra effort to tackle Ferrari’s dominance on track. Mercedes is already expecting a tough weekend at Singapore, which is due two weeks’ time.
“The car was working well today but I think we can still improve,” said Vettel.
“I am not yet happy. The balance is not perfect yet but I think by tomorrow with more work the car will be fine.”
