Practice report

F1 Monaco GP: Charles Leclerc outpaces Oscar Piastri by 0.038s amid FP2 crashes

Leclerc pips Piastri and Hamilton in a second Monaco F1 practice session disrupted by red flags

Charles Leclerc has made it a clean sweep of Friday's F1 Monaco GP practice by heading Oscar Piastri in the second session.

Last year's Monaco Grand Prix victor Leclerc was just 0.038s quicker than McLaren's championship leader Piastri, while Lewis Hamilton ensured both Ferraris featured in the top three.

Piastri and then team-mate Lando Norris led the early running in the second one-hour session, before Max Verstappen took over. But less than 10 minutes into the session the red flag came out a first time for Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar clipping the barriers at the Nouvelle Chicane.

Hadjar punctured his left-rear tyre, with the Frenchman fuming behind the wheel but eventually able to bring the VCARB 02 back to the pits under the red flag.

As the session resumed Piastri led the way, but after 19 minutes the Australian caused a second stoppage by going straight into the tyre wall at Turn 1's Ste Devote, escaping with minor damage.

As the track went green once more Leclerc, Aston's Fernando Alonso and Hamilton all traded the lead on hard Pirelli rubber before the soft-tyre qualifying simulations started coming in.

It was last year's home winner Leclerc who upped the pace, at one point holding the session's three fastest lap times as he whittled his best effort down from 1m11.414s to 1.m11.355s around the halfway mark.

Leclerc's lap would survive until the end, with Piastri his closest challenger after brief repairs at McLaren. Piastri finished just 0.038s behind, with Hamilton one tenth behind his Ferrari team-mate in third.

Norris was fourth, three tenths in arrears, ahead of a surprise Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Hadjar, who recovered well from his early off but then tapped the wall again – this time sliding out of Turn 1 – and bent his left-rear suspension.

Alonso was seventh after a solid showing for Aston Martin, with Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen rounding out the top 10.

Verstappen narrowly headed team-mate Yuki Tsunoda after a typically low-key Friday for Red Bull, with the Dutchman going long in Ste Devote without harm. Verstappen was much more upset at the slow traffic around the swimming pool section, labelling it "so dangerous".

Haas driver Oliver Bearman was summoned by the FIA race stewards for allegedly not complying with the second red flag.

The Monaco Grand Prix weekend resumes on Saturday with third practice at 12:30 local time, before Monaco's crucial and hair-raising qualifying session at 16:00.

F1 Monaco GP - FP2 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	32	1'11.355		S	168.358
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	28	+0.038 1'11.393	0.038	S	168.268
3	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	30	+0.105 1'11.460	0.067	S	168.110
4	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	32	+0.322 1'11.677	0.217	S	167.601
5	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Honda	32	+0.468 1'11.823	0.146	S	167.261
6	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	RB	Honda	17	+0.487 1'11.842	0.019	S	167.216
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	30	+0.535 1'11.890	0.048	S	167.105
8	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	34	+0.563 1'11.918	0.028	S	167.040
9	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+0.647 1'12.002	0.084	S	166.845
10	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	29	+0.713 1'12.068	0.066	S	166.692
11	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	30	+0.717 1'12.072	0.004	S	166.683
12	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+0.737 1'12.092	0.020	S	166.637
13	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	32	+0.796 1'12.151	0.059	M	166.500
14	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	29	+0.879 1'12.234	0.083	S	166.309
15	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	33	+0.904 1'12.259	0.025	M	166.251
16	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	32	+0.907 1'12.262	0.003	S	166.245
17	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	34	+1.049 1'12.404	0.142	S	165.919
18	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	30	+1.157 1'12.512	0.108	S	165.671
19	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	33	+1.186 1'12.541	0.029	S	165.605
20	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	31	+2.060 1'13.415	0.874	S	163.634
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