The Italian Grand Prix always carries extra weight for two of Formula 1's biggest teams and their drivers. At Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli is the first Italian driver to lead the championship at their home grand prix for more than 70 years; while on the other side of the garage, George Russell knows this weekend offers a big chance to reignite his title challenge considering Antonelli is carrying a grid penalty.
And we can't really overstate how significant the Monza race is to Ferrari - not least this year, where it still has outside hopes of winning the F1 title.
So who from that quarter has started off strong, and who else is up with them? And who already needs the weekend to take a drastic upturn? Here's our pick of Friday winners and losers and their FP2 positions.
Winner: Ferrari's new engine (2nd & 5th)
Ferrari's second ADUO upgrade has been the big talking point heading into the weekend, and the early signs are promising - with Charles Leclerc second fastest in FP2, 0.120s off Russell's pace and right up there on long-run pace.
To this we must add not only the usual caveat that this is Friday practice, but also the fact Leclerc's impressive pace was on the soft Pirellis versus the hards used by the Mercedes drivers - and the rapid Red Bull of Liam Lawson.
Friday isn't the day for definitive conclusions, but it's at least a promising start for Ferrari at a circuit that exposes its power deficit. And given that the engine upgrade, which both drivers are running, was never expected to wipe out the disadvantage but reduce it, that's encouraging for the Tifosi.
Loser: Honda's latest engine (19th & 22nd)
Fernando Alonso suggested on Thursday that Monza might be the better test of how much Honda's improved its F1 engine than the Zandvoort circuit at which it made its debut.
And, well... the initial results don't look great on that score. Monza is the circuit where power is king. Honda was always likely to be exposed here; trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara accepted the need to be "realistic" and said it would be "challenging for [the] power unit side".
But Honda, Aston Martin, and Alonso (and team-mate Lance Stroll) would've wanted better than to be back at the foot of the table, sandwiching the Cadillacs, and realistically more than a second a lap off the next-slowest car. (Discounting Esteban Ocon's Haas.)
Winner: George Russell (1st)
"I don't know if we can say we're favourites this weekend, but we probably have a greater opportunity than we've had in the last two races where it's been less about the power unit and more about the chassis.
"It's so close right now, that last tenth in qualifying can be the difference of a couple of positions, which can change the podium. Right now, I don't know who is going to be the team to beat."
This was Russell speaking on Thursday, before he became the 'driver to beat' at Monza by topping Friday practice, overturning a three-tenth deficit to Ferrari at Zandvoort. It's a perfect start to a weekend that could be a turning point in the title fight.
Baca Juga
Red Bull khawatir usai Max Verstappen absen di FP1 GP Italia. Masalah keseimbangan mobil menghantui mereka jelang kualifikasi di Monza.
Liam Lawson puas dengan start produktifnya di GP Italia, finis P12 di FP2. Simak analisis performanya bersama Red Bull dan potensi taktik slipstream di Monza.
GP Italia F1: Latihan Jumat di Monza. Ferrari cepat dengan mesin baru, Honda kesulitan, Russell memuncaki FP2. Analisis pemenang dan pecundang.
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