Lando Norris topped a tight second practice at the Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Carlos Sainz both within one tenth of the McLaren driver.

Norris is hoping to ignite a title charge after retiring from last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix as he aims to make inroads into his 34-point deficit to championship leader Oscar Piastri.

After finishing first practice in sixth and a long way off Lewis Hamilton’s timesheet-topping lap, Norris was back on it in the second session and also had the best long-run pace.

“Normally by this point we have, like, a one-second gap on everyone but at the moment it’s just a bit close for my liking,” said Norris.

“I feel like some small things to improve and for us to still be P1, I thought was good. I thought we improved some stuff from FP1 to FP2 but just a bit close, so I just need to try and make the gap a bit bigger so we’re a little more comfortable.

“This is the complete opposite downforce level to Zandvoort where we were just easily quickest and it felt pretty amazing. Here it’s quite the opposite. Not a surprise, this is probably what we were expecting, but I definitely think we don’t perform quite to the same level in these low-downforce conditions as we do when we are at high downforce.

“The competitors catch up, it looks a bit closer and that makes our life a bit trickier. But I think we’re still in a reasonable place, some small things to improve and we’ll be a bit better.”

It could be a huge fight for pole position in qualifying from 3pm on Saturday, live on Sky Sports F1, as the top four were separated by less than two tenths.

Piastri was 0.181s behind Norris but did miss first practice as McLaren gave Irish teenager Alex Dunne a run out in their car as part of the mandatory requirement to run a rookie in practice at least four times this season.

But, Piastri is under investigation for allegedly leaving his garage too early following a red flag and faces a possible penalty.

“I think we just misjudged, got confused with the messaging on the timing system and went a little bit early. But not concerned,” said Piastri.

It might be a warning or something but I’d be surprised if it’s a sporting penalty.

Ferrari continued their tradition of being competitive in Monza, even in a challenging season, with Leclerc in second and Hamilton in fifth despite both drivers having minor trips through the gravel during second practice.

Hamilton, who led a Ferrari one-two in first practice, was 0.192s behind Norris with Max Verstappen another 0.007s back in sixth place.

Williams could cause a surprise as Sainz and Alex Albon were towards the top of the timesheets all day.

Kimi Antonelli caused an early red flag after beaching his Mercedes for the second Friday running as he lost control at Turn 7.

It adds to the difficult run of form for Antonelli, but Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has publicly backed the 19-year-old Italian, who is set to stay with the team for 2026 alongside George Russell.

Sky Sports F1’s Italian GP Schedule

Saturday September 6
8.10am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Italian Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11:30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Italian Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
3pm: ITALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday September 7
7.10am: F3 Feature Race
8.40am: F2 Feature Race
10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up
2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s European season concludes with the Italian Grand Prix – watch the whole Monza weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime