By Mark Gero
George Russell proved that he has no choice but to challenge his Mercedes teammate for the driver’s championship as the Briton set the fastest time in Friday practice for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, with a time of 1:22:559 ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc with series leader Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes in third.
Russell set the best time midway through the afternoon session when Antonelli led for most it earlier.
McLaren’s Lando Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri were fourth and sixth, with Lewis Hamilton fifth in the second Ferrari. Another double finish for the Racing Bulls with Arvid Lindblad seventh and Yuki Tsunoda tenth. Oliver Bearman finished eighth in the upgraded Haas, and Max Verstappen could not do much due to handling issues and had to settle his Red Bull in ninth.
It was a warm day and very little events were going on with the excepting of Leclerc spinning at the second chicane towards the end of the second session and recovering rather quickly to continue without any damage. A few trips into the gravel at the Variente della Roggia for the Alpine of Franco Colapinto and less so for Russell.
Another incident that was obvious to everyone watching was the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, coming out of the pits, got right in front of Norris, which the defending world champion had to take evasive action to swerve to the left and use the run-off area. Norris afterwards claimed that Stroll was driving dangerously on the course.
It should be every interesting to see what the new cars will do in qualifying on Saturday, and race day Sunday as the drivers will be tested on the fastest circuit of the year.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 