Vettel on top, despite spin, after Ericsson smash

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari underlined their status as favourites for the Italian Grand Prix in Friday practice as Lewis Hamilton was left well off the pace, although a heart-stopping spin into the barriers at the Curva Parabolica will sharpen the German's senses ahead of the weekend at Monza.

After a rain-affected first Friday session, the afternoon running was also delayed in spectacular fashion as Marcus Ericsson suffered a DRS failure which whipped his Sauber into the barriers and sent it barrel-rolling across the grass.

VIDEO: Ericsson in MASSIVE FP2 Monza crash

When on-track action resumed, the Ferraris and Mercedes drivers soon began trading lap times, but Vettel emerged two tenths clear of both Hamilton and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the qualifying simulations.

With little to choose between the leading teams in projected long-run pace, an apparent Saturday advantage will further boost Ferrari hopes of a first home win since 2010.

Valtteri Bottas was four tenths further adrift of Hamilton in qualifying runs, with Max Verstappen facing a maximum expectation of fifth place on Saturday - Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo ran to similar pace, but is set to start on the back row thanks to a brand new Renault power unit on race day.

After sneaking both cars into the top three on a drying track at the end of FP1, Force India again ran impressively in FP2 to head the 'B Class' runners - Esteban Ocon marginally ahead of Sergio Perez.

Only Ericsson kept the McLarens off the foot of the timesheets, Fernando Alonso running 1.6 seconds down on the similarly powered Red Bull, while Stoffel Vandoorne is likely facing yet another Q1 elimination - and likely P20 - after running half a second off even the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin.