Friday was busy in Monza, with the opening of the Italian Grand Prix weekend and a significant Brazilian result in Formula 2. George Russell finished the day fastest in F1, Ferrari showed strength in front of its crowd, and Rafael Câmara clinched pole for the F2 feature race, narrowing his gap to the championship lead.
Ferrari kicked off the weekend on a high note. Charles Leclerc led FP1 with 1:23.008 and steered a Ferrari 1-2 with Lewis Hamilton, while Russell appeared in third. In FP2, however, Mercedes answered: the Briton posted 1:22.559 and beat Leclerc by just 0.120s, with Kimi Antonelli completing the top three.
The early times left Mercedes and Ferrari in strong positions for Saturday’s qualifying. Russell ended Friday as the reference, but Leclerc was among the top two in both sessions. McLaren fell back in FP2, with Lando Norris in fourth and Oscar Piastri in sixth, while Max Verstappen finished only ninth in his sole session of the day after handing the car to Ayumu Iwasa in FP1.
Gabriel Bortoleto lived a day of contrasts. The Brazilian began well, putting Audi eighth in FP1 and finishing ahead of his teammate Nico Hülkenberg. In FP2, he improved his absolute time to 1:23.776, but he couldn’t take advantage of the Soft tires and suffered an engine failure at the end of the session, ending the practice in 15th.
In Formula 2, Rafa Câmara stood out as one of the day’s highlights. The Invicta Racing driver clocked 1:31.326 and claimed his fifth pole in ten rounds of the season. With the two points earned in qualifying, he matched the points of the runner-up Gabriele Minì and reduced the gap to 20 points to Nikola Tsolov at the lead. “It was a good pole position on the return from the summer break,” the Brazilian said, noting that the result still needs to be converted into race results.
Off the track, a decision by the FIA International Court of Appeal also altered the championship. The two five-second penalties for Pierre Gasly at the Monaco Grand Prix were reinstated, dropping the Frenchman from third to seventh and returning the podium to Isack Hadjar. The ruling also elevated Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, and Arvid Lindblad to fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
The Italian Grand Prix continues on Saturday with FP3 at 07:30 and qualifying at 11:00, Brasília time (GMT -3). The race is scheduled for Sunday at 10:00.
