MONACO GP – Charles Leclerc fastest by two tenths in second practice
Charles Leclerc was fastest in second practice for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver set an 11.278 on the medium tyre that put him nearly two-tenths faster than incoming teammate for 2025 Lewis Hamilton. The Monacan goes into the weekend looking for his first home win.
Fernando Alonso was third after Hamilton made a huge jump on his former teammate midway through the session. But neither could challenge Leclerc who top the entire session after his first time put him almost a second faster than Max Verstappen. Though he would have likely gone even faster on the soft tyre.
Leclerc will be hoping he can convert the strong pace into pole on Saturday without any mistakes with him looking for his first home win, and along with incoming teammate Hamilton, took advantage of the constantly evolving surface.
Verstappen eventually ended half a second off Leclerc and a tenth and a half behind Alonso, on what may have been his fastest lap he hit the wall at Portier then had to abort the lap. But he ended the session fourth fastest eight-tenths behind Alonso and four hundredths faster than Lando Norris.
The world champion, who complained his car was “bouncing like a kangaroo”. The contact with the wall did not apparently damage his car but for the second race in a row Red Bull appeared to be struggling for pace. He was beaten by Norris in Miami and was pushed all the way in Imola last weekend, it may be the case again as the Bristolian didn’t do a run on softs.
Last year Alonso was narrowly beaten to pole by Verstappen in Monaco last year, used his vast experience to take an encouraging fourth for Aston Martin.
Verstappen was one of a number of drivers who clipped the barriers – including his team-mate Sergio Perez at Massenet, Stroll and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine at the Swimming Pool – without major damage, although Stroll took no further part in the session after returning to the pits.
While nobody will count out Verstappen after he turned around a similarly bleak Friday in Imola last weekend to take pole and a race victory, there is no doubt that the Dutchman faces a huge challenge to claim a record ninth successive pole.
Red Bull’s struggles were further highlighted by Sergio Perez only managing eighth, with the Mexican joining Verstappen in complaining over the handling of the RB20 over team radio. But the Dutchman showed glimpses of being as fast on the hard tyre on his race simulation run as Leclerc was on the medium on his.
Carlos Sainz was sixth nearly a hundredth behind Norris, as he put his Ferrari a tenth faster than Stroll and Perez. Alex Albon was ninth going three thousandths faster than the second Mercedes of George Russell, as they completed the top ten. Russell, like Verstappen, reported vibrations through his steering wheel.
Yuki Tsunoda was eleventh missing out on the top ten by nine hundredths, while he was a hundredth and a half faster that the second faster than Oscar Piastri. Though it’s likely that the second McLaren would have been faster if he did a soft run.
Esteban Ocon spilt the two Haas’s, the Frenchman brushed the barriers but still was eight hundredths behind Kevin Magnussen and a hundredth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Pierre Gasly was seventeenth the second Alpine nearly two seconds behind the RB.
Logan Sargeant was eighteenth ahead of both Sauber’s with Valtteri Bottas over half a second ahead of Guanyu Zhou.