Lewis Hamilton remained atop the timesheets during second practice for Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, as Mercedes dominated.
The Mercedes pair traded fastest times through the first half of Thursday afternoon’s session on across both the Medium and Soft tyres.
Hamilton’s best of 1:11.118s was just 0.081s up on Valtteri Bottas’ best, as Mercedes pulled out a substantial advantage of nearly eight-tenths over Ferrari and Red Bull.
Sebastian Vettel was third best, 0.763s behind Hamilton, while Pierre Gasly was the lead Red Bull driver as team-mate Max Verstappen, second in the opening session, struggled for grip.
Verstappen finished sixth, with his afternoon also compromised by a suspected water leak from his RB15.
Charles Leclerc had a difficult afternoon as he also struggled for performance, with his best lap leaving him at the foot of the top 10.
Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon continued his impressive form on the streets of the principality as he was able to split the Red Bull drivers, and was the only midfielder to lap within a second of Hamilton.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was seventh while Alfa Romeo continued its upturn in pace by placing eighth and ninth, with Antonio Giovinazzi in front of Kimi Raikkonen.
Romain Grosjean took 11th, in front of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr., with the Briton’s run plan compromised by a floor change on his MCL34.
Daniil Kvyat was unable to match team-mate Albon and took 14th, while Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was a lowly 15th.
Renault was just 16th and 17th but such was the close nature of the midfield that 2018 winner Daniel Ricciardo was only seven-tenths adrift of seventh-placed Magnussen.
Lance Stroll’s struggles continued as he was a whopping 1.7s behind Ricciardo, while Williams only had its ex-driver for company at the rear.
George Russell was half a second behind Stroll and a tenth clear of Robert Kubica, whose personal best was over four seconds down on Hamilton’s benchmark.
Saturday’s 60-minute third practice session will begin at 12:00 local time
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