Lewis Hamilton beat his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc by a tenth to top second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. The seven-time champion set a 13.026 halfway through the session during the qualifying simulations. The team has made a perfect start to the weekend as expected.
Ferrari was expected to be the team to beat this weekend, the streets of Monte Carlo made up of slow and medium speed corners, as well as no real straights, play to the strength of the SF-26, as the team searches for their first Grand Prix victory since October 2024.
The big question is whether it will be Hamilton or Leclerc on pole position. Leclerc had the upper hand for most of the day, but Hamilton and his side of the garage made several setup changes that paid off and he looked at one with the car. Ferrari’s main weakness in 2026 has been on the straights, but Monaco is the least power-sensitive circuit on the calendar.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull third, while the car looked to be performing better on track, the four-time champion ahead of the Mercedes duo, George Russell two tenths behind the Dutchman and almost a tenth and a half behind the Ferraris. Russell going half a second ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Though Mercedes has dominated the season so far, in previous eras of dominance, they have sometimes struggled at unique street circuits like Monaco and Singapore, and in the first FP2 since March suggests that the silver arrows may not be able to continue their dominance of this season.
it could be a fight for Mercedes to get onto the podium if they are unable to qualify towards the front, given that overtaking will be challenging in Sunday’s race. But along with McLaren have some unusual aerodynamic parts for Monaco to add downforce to their rear wings, but it has not translated into enough performance to beat Ferrari.
Isack Hadjar recovered from his crash in FP1, putting himself sixth, the French-Algerian put his Red Bull half a second behind Antonelli as he pipped Oscar Piastri by just a thousandth of a second. Last year’s race winners, McLaren, looked to struggle, Piastri a second off the outright pace despite progress in North America.
Things weren’t much better for the driver who won last year, Lando Norris; he only managed eight laps and nineteenth fastest time before a technical issue stopped his running. Piastri also didn’t look competitive, either the slowest of the top four teams in representative running, with the top four teams separated by a second.
Nico Hulkenberg went a quarter of a second faster than Audi teammate Gabriel Bortoletto to lead the midfield. The two Audi’s were ahead of Ollie Bearman, who completed the top ten, after going four hundredths behind the Brazilian.
Pierre Gasly was a hundredth and a half outside the top ten at his de-facto home Grand Prix as he went a hundredth and a half faster than the Williams duo. Carlos Sainz going nine hundredths ahead of his teammate Alex Albon. Franco Colapinto split the Racing Bull despite clouting the barriers at Sainte Devote; he was a hundredth behind Arvid Lindblad and a quarter of a tenth faster than the Argentine.
Esteban Ocon was eighteenth ahead of former teammate Sergio Perez, the Cadillac also causing a red flag when smoke filled the car at the end of the session. Norris issue left him with the same time as Fernando Alonso; they were both nearly half a second ahead of Valtteri Bottas, with Lance Stroll completing the field.
