#MonacoGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc leads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two as @danielricciardo crashes. #F1

Leclerc Monaco GP FP2 – Charles Leclerc lead from team-mate Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two in FP2 at the Monaco GP, in a session interrupted by a heavy shunt for McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

 

 

Oracle Red Bull Racing duo Sergio Perez and points leader Max Verstappen were third and fourth respectively.

 

At the beginning of the second Friday afternoon practice session, most cars emerged immediately on the C4 yellow side-walled medium compounds, which only Ferrari ran in FP1.

 

However, the two F1-75 entries started FP2 on the C3 harder tyres, which meant Leclerc and Sainz were off Perez’s early pace, who had knocked off Alexander Albon’s Williams at the head of the order after the opening three minutes of the one-hour long session.

 

Perez’s 1:16.176 remained as the initial benchmark effort before Leclerc jumped ahead on a 1:15.763 after the opening five minutes were completed, as Sainz then took P1 on a 1:14.880 as drivers quickly built back towards the levels they were hitting in opening practice and has more rubber on the racing line.

 

After ten minutes, Perez’s 1:14.001 on the mediums put the Mexican back on top, now with team-mate Verstappen trailing behind and with Leclerc’s effort put him third as the first quarter subsided.

 

At this stage, the session was halted when McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo crashed heavily at the second part of the Swimming Pool complex.

 

Moments after Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel saved a dramatic sideways scare at the same spot to avoid a crash into the barriers onboard his AMR22 racer, Ricciardo, who was on his initial flyer of FP2 as he missed the first chunk of running, lost the rear of his Mercedes-powered MCL36 racer as he turned in for the left-hand turn 13 apex at the entry to the sequence.

 

As Ricciardo reacted to the sudden slide, the MCL36 snapped left and hit the barriers on the outside of the first Swimming Pool chicane, smashing off his front wing and it’s left-front wheel, with the wrecked car then sliding along the circuit and hitting the barriers on the inside of the second chicane.

 

After almost a ten minute delay, the session resumed, with most of the field onto the C5 faster red-branded softer rubber to complete their qualifying simulation runs, even more crucial practice than usual at a circuit that offers little chance for overtaking.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso used his softer tyres to momentarily hold first place, posting a 1:13.912, before the following Perez jumped back on top of the pile with a 1:13.324.

 

After Verstappen slotted behind his team-mate in second, Leclerc lead Ferrari’s push on the softs, taking P1 on a 1:13.125, beating Perez’s effort by 0.199 seconds.

 

At this time, both front-running outfits separated their approaches to the first set of softs they were using, with Red Bull opting for a second time after two slow cool-down laps, whilst Leclerc did the same after one slower tour.

 

Verstappen then posted a better second sector as he went ahead on a 1:13.103 before Leclerc, now running closer on track to his championship rival due to his shorter gap between flying laps, responded with the initial effort in the 1:12’s range.

 

Leclerc’s 1:12.764 moved him further clear of the Red Bull pairing, with Sainz taking second place behind his team-mate and 0.302 seconds adrift.

 

Whilst Sainz pitted with 25 minutes remaining, Leclerc continued on his stint with his initial set on the softs, setting a 1:12.656 on his third hot-lap, which featured huge gains in sector one and three.

 

This remained as the best time of the session, with Leclerc’s fourth flying tour – after he went into the pits – starting off with the best effort in sector one before he had to abort his flyer after coming across Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi travelling slowly through the Swimming Pool corners.

 

Sainz brought the gap to his team-mate down to 0.221 seconds as the session’s final third proceeded, but after a third visit into the pits, before continuing to push on the softs, the Spaniard managed to put in an effort of a 1:12.700, which wound up 0.044 seconds slower than Ferrari team-mate Leclerc with the session’s best time in sector two.

 

After the running on the softs, the Red Bull duo switched to the higher-fuel running earlier than the Ferrari drivers, who spent the final ten minutes gathering long race run data.

 

Before that, Perez found extra time on his final softs hot-lap to end up in third, 0.379 seconds adrift of Leclerc, whilst Verstappen did not make any similar gain and was demoted down into fourth.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the top five, as the Briton endured an eventful session after glancing the barriers at St. Devote just passed the mid-way point, saving a big slide through the final corners and a few tours later and then locked his right-front heavily and had to dive down the St. Devote escape road during the closing proceedings.

 

Mercedes’ George Russell, who also reported hitting the barriers at the end of his qualifying simulation stint – his incident at Tabac – placed sixth on the time-sheets, but complained of a lack of engine power towards the end of FP2.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took seventh and in-front of Alpine’s Alonso and Aston Martin’s Vettel, whilst Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten in the other AT03 racer.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen finished the day outside the top ten in 11th, and ahead of Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton, with the seven-time world champion reporting a heavy flat-spotted front-left tyre during the early stint and then had one of his qualifying simulation efforts ruined by a double lock-up into Mirabeau, which meant he had to take the escape road at the down-hill left hand corner.

 

Alfa Romeo F1 ORLEN’s Valtteri Bottas FP1 throttle issue was fixed with enough time for him to head out immediately in FP2, taking 13th as team-mate Zhou Guanyu finished the session 15th with Williams Racing’s Albon splitting the pairing in 14th as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came 16th in the classification.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher was another driver who hit the track early after his crew fitted a replacement gearbox and MGU-K (Motor Generator-Unit Kinetic), after the MGU-K he was running in FP1 failed and overloaded the gearbox he used in opening practice.

 

Schumacher placed 17th and ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took a low 18th, Williams Racing’s Latifi who placed 19th and the aforementioned Ricciardo who brought up the rear for McLaren, with the Australian the only driver unable to set a lap-time.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1112/monaco/practice-2.html

 

---

#MonacoGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @SChecoPerez. #F1

#Formula1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022 Preview. #F1 #MonacoGP