Compared to the previous practice session, the environment at this stage was much closer to that of the main race on Sunday. After the first 20 minutes, Sainz took the top spot on the timesheets with 1 minute 43.231 seconds, while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were second and third. The latter, after missing a braking point against the parapet at Turn 11 in the previous stage, had a similar situation in the same place again this stage, but was once again lucky to avoid damage to his car. The winning favorite, Red Bull, did not come out until near the halfway point and Max Verstappen was doing practice on hard tires.
Sainz, however, further improved his personal time on soft tyres in another round of qualifying sprint practice that followed. He used a lap of 1 minute 42.587 seconds to consolidate his position at the top of the time chart, as Leclerc was 0.208 seconds behind his teammate despite advancing to second.
Russell, unaffected by two consecutive Turn 11 incidents, was the third fastest driver in the field after improving to 1:42.911. Verstappen was 0.015 seconds behind the Mercedes driver in fourth after using soft tyres. Hamilton, meanwhile, finished all of Friday's practice in fifth place, 0.271 seconds behind his teammate.
The two Red Bull cars stayed in the garage for a long time and in the end Verstappen and Sergio Perez only ran a total of 20 laps. The Mexican, who ran four extra laps, failed to make the top six and only placed ninth.
Esteban Ocon continued Alpine's good form this weekend, leading the mid-pack for the second consecutive stage. This time, however, the closest to him was replaced by Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas, although the two had only a slim gap of 0.009 seconds. The French manufacturer continued with both cars in the front world, with Fernando Alonso two places behind his teammate. He was followed by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll - the Canadian's second consecutive stage in the top ten.
Kuan-Yu Chow improved in the second practice session, improving two places from his previous 17th place, setting his fastest personal lap time at 1 minute 44.524 seconds and racking up 24 laps in the stage.
Alexander Albon, who missed the Italian Grand Prix due to acute appendicitis, successfully completed his first track day after recovering from surgery.
