Hamilton: We haven't seen the best from the Red Bulls yet

The seven-time world champion won the Formula 1 season-opener in Bahrain last month and finished the first two practice sessions ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in second, just behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Mercedes felt they were lacking in pace compared to Red Bull during the Bahrain Grand Prix, but Hamilton appears more happy with the balance of his W12 in Italy.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen missed the bulk of FP2 because of drive shaft failure, while Sergio Perez was outside the top five in both sessions.

Looking ahead to qualifying on Saturday, the 36-year-old explained that track position was vital given that it is "hard to follow" around the Imola circuit, while also highlighting the challenge of navigating traffic.

"The team worked very hard to understand what happened in the last race where we were weak and to see if we can try to tweak the car for a better set-up," he said following the conclusion of FP2. "I also think the track has come a little bit more in our direction.

"We started off with a really good set-up today, a few tweaks here and there but no major issues. So far, good pace from us this weekend.

"We haven't seen the best from the Red Bulls yet. It looks like they had messy sessions with traffic but it will be interesting to see just how quick they are tomorrow.

"Positioning is important here - it's hard to follow around this track so nailing the set-up and maximising tomorrow is going to be so important."

Hamilton will be back out on track for FP3 on Saturday morning at 11:00 CET.