Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso beat teammate Lewis Hamilton Wednesday to the P1 slot at Monza. The Briton rookie took the track from the morning session of Day 2 as he continued the McLaren Mercedes programme of preparation for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard driver carried on with the aerodynamic testing with modified car settings. Alonso set the fastest lap during his session, clocking a 1:23.155 to beat teammate by 0.299 seconds.
Nick Heidfeld, meanwhile, was third quickest, finishing a further 0.271s off the pace. Heidfeld continued working on the set-up of the car. The German focused mainly on mechanical adaptations. He also did a comparison of the 2 tyre compounds which will be used for the upcoming race.
Jarno Trulli landed in fourth place. "We had a good day and improved many aspects of the car," he said. "I was much happier with the braking stability and we also made strong progress with the aerodynamic set-up. We improved our lap time, which is positive, and I am now confident of a strong race here at Monza in next week’s Italian Grand Prix."
Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen both finished with a 1:23.773. Sebastian Vettel and Alex Wurz completed the top eight.
Here are the results of Monza testing Day 2 as provided by Planet-F1:
Results
01 F. Alonso McLaren 01:23.155 49 laps
02 L. Hamilton McLaren 01:23.454 49 laps
03 N. Heidfeld BMW 01:23.725 84 laps
04 J. Trulli Toyota 01:23.759 61 laps
05 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:23.773 59 laps
06 H. Kovalainen Renault 01:23.773 59 laps
07 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:24.266 101 laps
08 A. Wurz Williams 01:24.356 70 laps
09 C. Klien Honda 01:24.595 92 laps
10 M. Webber Red Bull 01:24.701 83 laps
11 T. Sato Super Aguri 01:24.976 80 laps
12 A. Sutil Spyker F1 01:25.278 76 laps
Separately, McLaren has denied the rumors that Hamilton’s tyre failure at the Turkish Grand Prix was the result of Alonso keeping data from the Briton. The Daily Mirror earlier reported that the Spaniard took steps in Istanbul to ensure that Hamilton wasn’t privilege to any of his car’s data or set-up.
The report noted it is believed that ‘if Hamilton’s side of the McLaren garage had been able to emulate his teammate’s settings in Istanbul, the [tyre] blow would never have occurred.’ But McLaren strongly denied the allegation. "It’s totally untrue. We continue to have total transparency in the team," said team spokesman Ellen Kolby.