Charles Leclerc continued his form from the first free practice on Friday in Monaco into the second session. The home favorite was just slightly faster than Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen did not get further than the tenth time with the Red Bull.
Verstappen had reason to complain about a lot of traffic in front of him in the laps that he tried to clock a fast time on the soft tires. Nevertheless, the reigning champion did not come close to Leclerc’s 1:11.355. Verstappen, like in the first practice, did not manage to get into the 1:11s. He was ultimately seven tenths slower than the Ferrari driver.
For a moment, it even seemed like Ferrari would keep the two top positions in the second practice until WK-leader Piastri settled in second place. He did so after a hefty crash earlier in the practice, where the Australian lost his front wing in the first corner. Piastri was ultimately only 0.038 seconds slower than Leclerc.
Lewis Hamilton showed that Ferrari’s gloomy expectations for Monaco were somewhat unfounded. The Brit was a tenth slower than his teammate, which was good for the third time. Lando Norris was fourth in the second McLaren, three tenths off the fastest lap time.
Behind them, the speed of the Racing Bulls stood out. Liam Lawson in the car of the Red Bull sister team was good for the fifth time, four tenths from Leclerc. His teammate Isack Hadjar was slightly slower and thus became sixth. That gave a positive twist to a difficult practice for the Frenchman.
Twice he hit the guardrails, which even caused a red flag the first time. After the second encounter with the wall, the suspension of his Racing Bull was so out of alignment that Hadjar had to search for the pit box early while cursing.