Mercedes has bemoaned a "messy" Friday practice for the Italian Grand Prix after struggling to get on top of car setup amid the various red flags. The team finished FP2 with George Russell ninth quickest and Lewis Hamilton 17th fastest, over half a second off the pace set by fastest man Carlos Sainz. Lance Stroll brought out an early red flag for a fuel-related issue, while Sergio Perez interrupted the long runs with just over 10 minutes left after going off the track at the Parabolica. Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin believes there is still more work to be done to catch Ferrari and Red Bull and explained: "It's been a messy day, partly with red flags but also because we've not got the car in a good place at the moment. "That means we have a bit of work to do overnight to get the setup in the right place for the rest of the weekend. "Single lap and long run both need work if we want to be competitive. There's not much else to say; we just need to get on with the job of sorting the car out."
Hamilton: Lots a learning to do
Hamilton ended FP2 with a quickest lap that was 1.4secs off the pace, having elected not to set a time on the Soft tyres. The teams have to work with the Alternative Tyre Allocation system this weekend, which limits the amount of tyre sets they are allowed. "It was a relatively normal Friday programme for me," said Hamilton. "The reliability was strong, and we got through the work that we needed to, checking off the different tests we had to do. "There's lots of learning from and we will have a bit of work tonight to try and improve for Saturday - as we always manage to do. "I know that the team will do great work overnight to improve the set-up and car balance, so that we can be quicker."
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