Ferrari fastest on Monaco GP Thursday – All you need to know

Home hero Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 in the second Thursday practice session for Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix.

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Key moments

– Ferrari four tenths clear

– Hamilton and Verstappen 0.007s apart

– FP1 pacesetter Perez only eighth

– Tsunoda left to rue wall tap

– Late Schumacher red flag ends session

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Ferrari’s turn of pace, already quite evident in FP1, was further foreshadowed by the opening runs in the second session, as a hard-shod Carlos Sainz Jr slotted in between title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, first and third respectively and both lapping on mediums.

And with Hamilton’s first flyer on softs proving untidy, with a particularly lairy moment through the Nouvelle chicane, Sainz took advantage to go top with a 1m11.796s.

Yet while team-mate Leclerc had spent much of the session gradually building up to Sainz’s pace, having had to sit out most of FP1 due to a gearbox problem, he was able to maximise track evolution after most had already finished their qualifying simulation runs.

Leclerc’s 1m11.684s came on six-lap-old soft tyres, leaving him a tenth up on Sainz and nearly four tenths up on Hamilton – who did improve on his initial effort.

Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was just three hundredths down on Hamilton, with Verstappen between them, having spent much of the session incensed by traffic.

Lando Norris in the special-liveried McLaren, Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull completed the top eight.

Antonio Giovinazzi was ninth for Alfa Romeo, having popped up as high as third at the halfway point, while Sebastian Vettel completed the top 10 for Aston Martin. Vettel reported at one point in the session that his eyes felt like they were “bleeding” but then quickly played down the seriousness of the complaint and continued to circulate.

Haas driver Mick Schumacher caused a session-ending red flag with five minutes to go, after losing control of his VF-21 at Massenet and hitting the wall. He briefly continued at reduced speed with a right-rear puncture, before pulling over in the run-off at the Nouvelle chicane.

Though the contact seemed more substantial than fellow rookie Yuki Tsunoda’s earlier wall tap, the impact was lesser. Tsunoda’s came on the exit of the Swimming Pool section as the AlphaTauri contacted against the outside wall, and it ultimately limited him to just 11 laps as he never rejoined after returning to the pits.

Practice 2 Results