Charles Leclerc completed a clean sweep of Friday, finishing fastest in the second Monaco GP practice session.
A large queue formed in Monaco’s tight pit-lane ahead of the green light of the second practice session, with Liam Lawson at the head of the queue.
The usual antics of drivers waiting in the pits for rivals to get a distance away wasted away the first couple of minutes. But given Monaco’s short, tight and twisty nature, this was crucial to avoid impeding.
Lawson’s first lap was quickly usurped by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, both running on medium tyres.
Track evolution saw a plethora of changes at the top of the timesheets in the opening five minutes. At the end of the first runs, Verstappen led the times, but took to the radio to complain of an upshift problem.
Isack Hadjar hit the barriers going into the chicane, destroying his right rear tyre. A red flag was immediately thrown. However, the Racing Bulls car could move under its own motion, and Hadjar returned to the pits, the level of damage to his car unknown.
Session resumes before a second red flag in Monaco GP practice
After the famously quick Monaco GP marshals cleared the debris, the practice session resumed after a five-minute delay.
The Saubers led the field out of the restart, with another traffic jam forming in the Monaco pit-lane. Williams’ Carlos Sainz backed out of his opening lap after a wide moment going up the hill.
The duel between the McLarens and Max Verstappen recommenced, with Oscar Piastri having the upper hand. He put distance between himself and the rest of the field, almost half a second clear of team-mate Norris. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli took the supporting positions as the track ramped up.
Charles Leclerc then found half a second, and jumped to the top of times. Seconds later, Piastri crashed heavily into the barriers at Saint Devote. He got his McLaren moving again, but another red flag was thrown to clear the debris left behind.
Second session restart
With just over 30 minutes remaining, the field took to the track once again. Antonelli pushing hard had a tight moment at Mirabeau, almost making contact with the barrier.
Fernando Alonso demonstrated the track still had more performance to give, as the Spaniard jumped to the top of the times.
Aston Martin’s moment of glory was short lived, as Hamilton replaced him at the head of the field, ominously on medium tyres compared to Alonso’s softs.
The title contenders were spread throughout the order, with only Ferrari having shown their hand at this stage. The different tyres being used clouded the true competitive order. But Leclerc replaced his hard tyres with softs and went fastest by almost half a second.
Team-mate Hamilton backed out of his lap after not warming up his tyres. Leclerc found another tenth of a second to extend his lead.
Lando Norris on a new set of softs remained half a a second adrift of the Ferrari. Team-mate Piastri, back on track also failed to match the Ferrari. Max Verstappen, kissing the barriers, moved into sixth, over seven-tenths of a second behidn Leclerc.
Adton Martin and Racing Bulls were enjoying a competitive session. Alonso ran in the tp five, with Liam Lawson in third.
But Franco Colapinto once again struggled for pace. The Argentinian was rooted to the bottom of the timesheets, nearly a full second behind the next car of Esteban Ocon.
Final ten minutes of Monaco GP second practice
Piastri began to find large swathes of time. Jumping to third on his first lap on a new set of softs, he then moved into third, less than a tenth behind Leclerc.
Hadjar made contact with the unforgiving Monaco barriers for the second time in an hour. He returned to the pits, his session now over. However, he made a statement of intent wwith his time on track. While he and Lawson were 5th and 6th, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda were 10yth and 11th.
Verstappen seemingly confirmed Red Bull’s issues by running wide at Mirabeau. Initially struggling to find reverse gear, he set off once again. No one could dethrone Leclerc, who completed a clean sweep of Friday in Monaco.
Session Classification
- Charles Leclerc
- Oscar Piastri
- Lewis Hamilton
- Lando Norris
- Liam Lawson
- Isack Hadjar
- Fernando Alonso
- Alex Albon
- Kimi Antonelli
- Max Verastappen
- Yuki Tsunoda
- George Russell
- Carlos Sainz
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Oliver Bearman
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Pierre Gasly
- Lance Stroll
- Esteban Ocon
- Franco Colapinto
