Free Practice 2: Adrian Sutil dominates the second session

It was still under a blue sky that this second practice session took place. The air temperature was 28 degrees and the track temperature was 38 degrees. Sutil was the standout performer in this session, with an incredible attack at all times, confirming that Force India must now be taken into account on circuits that demand low downforce.

Force India is the most efficient of the cars in the second and third sectors, which include the two Lesmo curves, the sequence of Ascari’s fast corners, and the famous Parabolica. Once again, after Spa-Francorchamps, this proves that the VJM02 is the most effective car at the moment in fast corners with a low downforce setup. Sutil led the session for most of the time, completing fewer laps than most teams, and despite a convincing final run by Renault in the last minutes. Romain Grosjean even managed to displace Sutil from first place, but he responded immediately. Liuzzi, however, is a second behind his teammate.

Once again, the field is extremely close as there is only a one-second gap from Grosjean in 2nd to Rosberg in 17th. Only Sutil pulls ahead at the front, while Vettel, Button, and Fisichella are slightly trailing.

The Renaults are therefore in great shape at Monza, and the KERS is surely partly responsible. They hold the best time in the first sector. Romain Grosjean is second, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who is third, but they are respectively 0.239sec and 0.373sec behind Adrian Sutil.

McLaren continues on its momentum. Heikki Kovalainen, who completed 9 more laps than Lewis Hamilton, is in 4th place, 0.5 seconds off the best time but 0.4 seconds ahead of his teammate.

The BMWs confirm their return to form, with Kubica and Heidfeld in 5th and 7th positions respectively. Kimi Räikkönen in his Ferrari ranks 8th while Giancarlo Fisichella ends up last in this session, 0.8 seconds behind Räikkönen.

Toyota and Williams have made good progress but still do not seem as comfortable on the curbs as the others. Glock is 6th and Trulli is 13th but are only separated by 3 tenths. Nakajima is 9th and Rosberg 17th. They too are only separated by 3 tenths, but that means several places apart.

Toro Rosso seems to be holding its own. Alguersuari, like Grosjean and Liuzzi, is getting used to this atypical track. He ranks 15th and is only 2 tenths behind Buemi, who is 10th.

Finally, Brawn GP and Red Bull continue to conserve their engines for the championship. Therefore, they do not take unnecessary risks. Brawn GP has significantly reduced the maximum revs of the Mercedes engine, and Barrichello and Button are ranked 16th and 19th respectively.

The two Red Bull drivers ran very few laps and the team also reduced the maximum engine speed for this Friday. This may explain the 14th and 18th positions of Webber and Vettel.

Results of Free Practice 2 – Italian GP – Friday, September 11, 2009: