Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in FP2 for the Monaco Grand Prix, in front of his teammate and Max Verstappen, as the Monaco circuit continued to cause issues for the drivers and teams ahead of crucial Saturday Qualifying.
All Systems Go!
The sun continued to shine for the all-important Free Practice 2 at the Monaco Grand Prix. The circuit filled very quickly as the teams took advantage of the full hour. Everyone hit the track, except Hadjar, as his team continued to work on his car following his crash at the swimming pool in FP1.
Usual Suspects Lead the Pack
After 10 minutes, the usual suspects led the pack, as the times started to tumble. Half a second covered the top 4 of Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc and Antonelli.
The track continued to challenge the drivers as they slid, drifted and kissed the walls early on.
Early Trouble for Norris
With barely 15 minutes gone in the session, Lando Norris pulled off the track at the Nouvelle chicane. His car looked to switch off as he approached the braking zone. The worst-case scenario for the World Champion and the VSC came out in order to recover his car. All the cars returned to the pits while the session took a small break.
Ferrari Lead the First Soft Tyre Runs
The field switched onto the soft tyres with 30 minutes remaining for qualifying simulations. The pace picked up and the Ferrari’s topped the timesheets, but they continued to slide around. Especially at the Swimming pool chicane with multiple drivers close to copying Hadjar’s FP1 crash.
Colapinto Nearly Finds the Barriers
Despite most drivers threatening to hit the barriers, Colapinto was the first to follow through. The Argentine locked up on the approach to Saint Devout and nearly went head first into the barrier. Some cadence braking and lots of steering lock stopped this but he still managed to connect both his left hand tyres with the barrier.
He was lucky to get away with it and continued on without any further damage.
Perez’s Flaming Brakes Ends Session
With only 4 minutes to go, Sergio Perez had smoke coming out of his cockpit up the hill towards Casino Square. It quickly became clear that the smoke was coming from his flaming right-front brake, prompting him to pull over and bring out the red flag. The red flag ended the session for the second time in two sessions in Monaco.
Ferrari Look Strong
As FP2 ended, the Ferraris remained on the top of the timesheets. This time, Lewis Hamilton led his teammate by just over a tenth of a second, setting a time of 1:13.026. The two Ferraris were followed by Max Verstappen in third.
The Scuderia look like the team to beat, setting us up for a very exciting Saturday in Monaco. Lets see if anyone else can spoil their party.
The Top 10 were:
- Lewis Hamilton 1:13.026
- Charles Leclerc +0.111
- Max Verstappen +0.168
- George Russell +0.379
- Kimi Antonelli +0.503
- Isack Hadjar +1.061
- Oscar Piastri +1.062
- Nico Hulkenberg +1.068
- Gabriel Bortoleto +1.333
- Ollie Bearman +1.430
All images: Formula 1 X