MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Red Bull driver Max Verstappen topped a tight second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, lapping slightly quicker than Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen, aboard his Honda-powered Red Bull, led the session on medium, hard and soft tires and turned a best lap of one minute and 12.462 seconds on the twisty Monaco street course.
“I wasn’t happy with the ride of the car but FP2 was much better, the car was a lot more competitive. Compared to Ferrari, I think the handling is still lacking on the curbs and the drops in camber. We need to work on that ahead of tomorrow because you can see that they are still very close, we’ll need more for qualifying tomorrow to stay ahead of them,” Verstappen said.
Leclerc was second on the timesheets for Ferrari with a lap of one minute and 12.527 seconds.
Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, Sainz, was third but crashed into the turn-15 wall and slid over the curbs and against the turn-16 barrier, damaging the car and bringing the red flag.
Fernando Alonso placed fourth in his Aston Martin, while Lando Norris was fifth for McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Red Bull wheelman Sergio Perez, who won last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, completed the top seven.
Sainz led the first session earlier in the day.