MONTE CARLO — Lewis Hamilton set the pace during Friday’s second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, leading the way from Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton got down to a time of 1 minute and 13.026 seconds on Pirelli’s soft tires amid gorgeous late-afternoon weather conditions in the Principality, putting him a tenth up on Leclerc, and another few hundredths ahead of Verstappen.
Leclerc had led the first practice session of the day
When the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane to kick off FP2, plenty of drivers were queued up and keen to resume their practice programs, with confidence and rhythm crucial factors around Monaco’s tight and twisty streets.
On that note, Ferrari picked up where they left off in FP1 by going straight to the top of the times – Leclerc posting a 1 minute and 14.240 seconds with mediums, and Hamilton clocking a 1 minute 14.306 secibds, as both drivers continued to look competitive aboard their SF-26s.
A flurry of improvements followed over the next few minutes, bringing a new benchmark of 1 minute and 13.729 seconds from Hamilton, who no doubt raised heart rates on the Ferrari pit wall with a couple of slides through the high-speed Piscine section.
Verstappen was third, while the Mercedes cars of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top five.
