Hamilton pips Rosberg in Monza practice

Lewis Hamilton narrowly edged his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to top the times in Friday practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Boosted by upgraded power units, Mercedes proved to be the class of the field at the ultra fast Monza circuit.

Hamilton, who topped the opening 90 minute practice session, starred in Practice 2 posting a 1:24.279s effort on soft tyres, which proved to be 0.021s faster than Rosberg.

The Silver Arrows were 0.7s clear of their nearest rival Sebastian Vettel, competing in his first Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari.

Force India issued the surprise of Friday practice with drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg ending the day in fourth and fifth respectively.

The pair were marginally faster than Kimi Riakkonen in the second Ferrari, while Lotus occupied seventh and eighth courtesy of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.

Williams rounded out the top 10 with Valtteri Bottas just edging his team-mate Felipe Massa.

A hydraulic issue saw Daniel Ricciardo miss a large chunk of Practice 2 after he was forced to coast back to the pits stuck in first gear.

The Red Bull driver did rejoin the session clocking a time good enough for 13th spot.

Already hit with a 10 place grid penalty for an engine change, the Australian is likely to incur further penalties following reports that Red Bull plan to make a second power unit change.

McLaren’s struggles continued with Jenson Button completing just three laps in the day’s final session due to a technical issue.

Both practice sessions went ahead largely without incident with the red flags only seen in Practice 1 due to a spin for Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz.

The Spaniard is also set to take a 10 place grid penalty for an engine change.

Result: Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix Practice 2, Monza

Result: Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix Practice 1, Monza