Nico Rosberg led the field in first practice at the Monza circuit but it was his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton who set the pace in the second session.
Hamilton put in a 1m22.801 on the super-soft tyre to end FP2 at the top of the timesheets, just under two tenths clear of Rosberg.
Ferrari looked closer compared to the morning session. Sebastian Vettel was third, with Kimi Raikkonen fourth. Both were within six and a half tenths of the Silver Arrows.
Max Verstappen was the lead Red Bull in fifth, with Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place. Fernando Alonso had a quiet start to FP2 but ended the session seventh, after earlier issues in practice one.
Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean were next up, despite the Haas driver struggling early in the session, with Jenson Button showing encouraging pace for McLaren in 10th.
Having announced his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of the 2016 season, Williams racer Felipe Massa was 11th, 1.7 seconds down on Hamilton’s best time.
Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were 12th and 13th, with Esteban Gutierrez in 14th. Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein were next up.
Esteban Ocon brought out a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) mid-way through FP2 after stopping before the first Lesmo corner, but he finished 18th overall.
It was a rather uneventful session, apart from several drivers taking to the run-off areas and escape roads at the Monza circuit as they searched for the limit.