Lewis Hamilton set the pace during Friday’s second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, leading the way from Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton got down to a time of 1m 13.026s on Pirelli’s soft tyres amid gorgeous late-afternoon weather conditions in the Principality, putting him a tenth up on Leclerc, and another few hundredths ahead of Verstappen.
When the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane at 1700 local time to kick off FP2, plenty of drivers were queued up and keen to resume their practice programmes, with confidence and rhythm crucial factors around Monaco’s tight and twisty streets.
On that note, Ferrari picked up where they left off in FP1 by going straight to the top of the times – Leclerc posting a 1m 14.240s with mediums, and Hamilton clocking a 1m 14.306s, as both drivers continued to look competitive aboard their SF-26s.
A flurry of improvements followed over the next few minutes, bringing a new benchmark of 1m 13.729s from Hamilton, who no doubt raised heart rates on the Ferrari pit wall with a couple of slides through the high-speed Piscine (or Swimming Pool) section.
Verstappen slotted into second, a couple of tenths back, followed by Leclerc and the Mercedes machines of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell – the latter also experiencing a wild moment exiting the Swimming Pool and just about keeping his car out of the barriers.
Contrasting fortunes followed for Red Bull and McLaren. “Thank you, boys,” Isack Hadjar said over the radio as he left the pits in his repaired RB22, after crashing out of FP1. Then, just moments later, Lando Norris ground to a halt in his MCL40 at the Nouvelle Chicane.
Norris’ stoppage, which leaves him on the back foot heading into McLaren’s 1000th Grand Prix weekend, brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC), pausing what had been a busy opening phase full of green and purple sector times.
Soon after the VSC ended, Verstappen led the transition to soft tyres and duly took over at the top of the timing screen with a 1m 13.467s, while both Hamilton (1m 13.549s) and Leclerc (1m 13.613s) improved on mediums to sit second and third.
Once the rest of the field had swapped to softs, though, the Scuderia restored their 1-2 status – Hamilton pumping in a 1m 13.026s to lead Leclerc by just over a tenth, with Verstappen marginally slower.
Russell followed in fourth position, having been impeded by Gabriel Bortoleto at the start of his soft tyre run, with team mate and championship leader Antonelli just behind him after reporting on the radio that “the car in Sector 2 is so unpredictable”.
Hadjar wound up sixth as he strung together some much-needed laps in his Red Bull, followed by the sole remaining McLaren of Oscar Piastri, the high-flying Audis of Nico Hulkenberg and Bortoleto, Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Williams pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were next up in 12th and 13th respectively, while the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson sandwiched Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, which at one point thumped the barriers at Sainte Devote.
Esteban Ocon sat at the back of that midfield, winding up 17th in his Haas, with the sidelined Norris, the Cadillacs and the Aston Martins bringing up the rear – a late stoppage for Sergio Perez, whose cockpit filled with smoke, brought out the red flag right at the end of the session.
Drivers and teams will now regroup in the Monaco paddock before getting back behind the wheel in Saturday’s third and final practice session, which is set to begin at 1230 local time.
