Charles Leclerc was fastest yet again in free practice for Sunday’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, raising hopes of another home triumph.
The home favourite, who went fastest in FP1 earlier in the day, went top again with a 1:11.355s, six tenths fast that his earlier effort.
Oscar Piastri went second quickest, slower by just three hundredths of a second, despite a minor off into the barriers with two-thirds of the session completed.
Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton put up a decent showing, his 1:11.460s being quicker than his early afternoon run by more than a second.
Lando Norris was fourth, two tenths further back, with the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar fifth and sixth, the latter suffering two crashes during the hour.
Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen rounded up the top 10, which was covered by half a second.
The session was only eight minutes old when Isack Hadjar felt the cruel sting of the unforgiving street circuit.
The French rookie’s Racing Bulls clipped the barrier on the apex of Nouvelle chicane, and after coming to a stop on the exit, he proceeded to limp back to the pits as the red flags came out.
By the time the he had made it back, the left rear was little more than a shell, and a cruel reminder that you can be an inch away from either a clean lap, or a potentially long night’s work for your mechanics.
The next driver to find the extremities of the circuit could not put it down to rookie inexperience.
Piastri appeared to take too much speed going into Sainte Devote, and plonked the nose of his McLaren straight into the tyres on the outside.
Keeping the MCL39’s engine running, the Aussie reversed back onto the track and, like Hadjar, limped back for a replacement amid another red flag.
With the session drawling to a conclusion, Hadjar once again found the limits and beyond, losing the back end and kissing the barrier on the exit of Sainte Devote, bending the rear suspension.
Furious, Hadjar declared he was “stupid” and “dumb” as he toddled back to the pits.
For Leclerc, the double-topping of the timesheets will no doubt please his partisan supporters, but will be hoping to be able to find enough speed in his Ferrari to replicate it when it matters in qualifying.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Monaco Grand Prix – FP2 Results
