Ferrari put up its strongest showing since 2019 during second practice for Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix as home hero Charles Leclerc led the way.
Ferrari, currently fourth in the standings, emerged with the fastest one-lap package through the second one-hour session in warm and sunny conditions at the Circuit de Monaco.
Leclerc clocked a time of 1:11.684s during the Soft tyre runs to finish 0.112s clear of team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc had previously sat out almost all of the opening practice session due to a gearbox failure.
The Ferrari drivers were the only duo able to dip into the 1:11s during the course of the session.
Title rivals chasing Ferrari
Honours have so far been shared between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen this year but the pair had to settle for third and fourth respectively.
Hamilton recovered from a scruffy first push lap on Softs to finish as Ferrari’s nearest opponent but was still almost four-tenths down on Leclerc’s best.
Verstappen, chasing a maiden Monaco podium, was just seven-thousandths of a second behind his title rival.
Valtteri Bottas was fifth overall, within a tenth of Hamilton and Verstappen, while Lando Norris was the lead McLaren driver in sixth spot.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was seventh, and the last driver to classify within a second of leader Leclerc, as Sergio Perez took eighth for Red Bull.
Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was an eye-catching ninth with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top 10.
Past Monaco winners Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo were a low-key 11th, 12th and 15th respectively.
Schumacher shunt ends session early
The session was relatively free from drama, with only rookie drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher encountering major issues.
Tsunoda swiped the barriers exiting Piscine and while he was able to recover his damaged AlphaTauri AT02 to the pit lane he did not re-emerge, leaving him with only 11 laps under his belt.
Schumacher, meanwhile, drifted wide through the left-hander at Massenet and clattered into the barriers.
Schumacher tried to take his damaged Haas VF-21 back to the pit lane but stopped at the exit of the chicane due to the broken right-rear suspension, causing the session to be halted five minutes early.
Saturday’s final practice session is scheduled for 12:00 local time
Position
Driver
Team
Time Gap
Laps
1
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:11.684
30
2
Carlos Sainz Jr
Ferrari
1:11.796 0.112
32
3
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:12.074 0.390
28
4
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:12.081 0.397
27
5
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
1:12.107 0.423
32
6
Lando Norris
McLaren
1:12.379 0.695
24
7
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
1:12.498 0.814
28
8
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1:12.708 1.024
26
9
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo
1:12.746 1.062
28
10
Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
1:12.982 1.298
26
11
Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo
1:13.065 1.381
31
12
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1:13.175 1.491
27
13
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1:13.195 1.511
26
14
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1:13.199 1.515
28
15
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1:13.257 1.573
26
16
George Russell
Williams
1:13.509 1.825
32
17
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
1:13.593 1.909
31
18
Nikita Mazepin
Haas
1:14.407 2.723
26
19
Mick Schumacher
Haas
1:14.416 2.732
25
20
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1:14.829 3.145
11
