Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport

F1 Monaco GP: Leclerc leads second practice from Hamilton, Alonso

Leclerc spent the majority of the session sat on top of the order, where he picked up the fastest time and then proceeded to whittle down the lap time across his medium and soft-tyre runs to demonstrate an early advantage.

It took less than 10 minutes for the times to return to the ballpark that the drivers had explored in the earlier FP1 session, as Leclerc grabbed a 1m12.372s on the medium compound to shatter the 1m13.265s benchmark that Max Verstappen had produced on the hard tyre.

The Monegasque continued to assume sole responsibility for bringing the times down as the session moved into its next quarter, following up that effort with a 1m12.260s and a 1m12.125s on the same set of medium tyres.

He then broke the 1m12s deadlock to set a 1m11.573s, again on the mediums, but the times were set to tumble further as the teams switched to soft tyres on the cusp of the session's mid-way point.

Verstappen got closer to Leclerc's earlier time but was still about a quarter of a second shy despite being equipped with softs, and the Ferrari driver then continued to push the envelope further with a soft-shod 1m11.278s lap.

Attempting to respond, Verstappen knocked the wall in Portier with the rear of his Red Bull and thus had to abort his lap - following in a series of wall touches from around the field as the drivers explored the tight confines of the Monaco circuit.

Leclerc attempted to dig further time out of his car, but went fractionally wide in the Fairmont hairpin on one attempt and then suffered a wobble at Portier on his following effort, and so progressed into long run simulations thereafter.

This largely ended the pursuit of time at the head of the leaderboard, although second was hotly contested; Fernando Alonso prised Verstappen out of the runner-up position, but he in turn was dislodged by Hamilton as the Mercedes driver posted a 1m11.466s.

Verstappen was fourth fastest, despite struggling with a headache thanks to his Red Bull "jumping like a kangaroo", to get the Dutchman ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.

Carlos Sainz struggled to match his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc and found himself over six tenths adrift, and had exactly 0.1s in hand over Lance Stroll.

Sergio Perez improved from the earlier session and was eighth fastest, as Alex Albon and George Russell rounded out the top half of the field.

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 37

1'11.278

  168.540
2 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 32

+0.188

1'11.466

0.188 168.096
3 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 37

+0.475

1'11.753

0.287 167.424
4 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 37

+0.535

1'11.813

0.060 167.284
5 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 35

+0.675

1'11.953

0.140 166.958
6 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 36

+0.684

1'11.962

0.009 166.938
7 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 22

+0.784

1'12.062

0.100 166.706
8 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 31

+0.821

1'12.099

0.037 166.620
9 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 38

+0.979

1'12.257

0.158 166.256
10 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 30

+0.982

1'12.260

0.003 166.249
11 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 36

+1.071

1'12.349

0.089 166.045
12 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 35

+1.088

1'12.366

0.017 166.006
13 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 31

+1.195

1'12.473

0.107 165.761
14 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 34

+1.276

1'12.554

0.081 165.575
15 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 34

+1.291

1'12.569

0.015 165.541
16 Australia D. Ricciardo RB 3 RB Red Bull 37

+1.299

1'12.577

0.008 165.523
17 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 35

+1.472

1'12.750

0.173 165.129
18 United States L. Sargeant Williams 2 Williams Mercedes 36

+1.512

1'12.790

0.040 165.039
19 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 31

+1.779

1'13.057

0.267 164.435
20 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 32

+2.495

1'13.773

0.716 162.840
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.