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

Charles Leclerc has topped the afternoon FP2 session at the Monaco GP ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completing the top three.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was fourth quickest, as both championship contenders suffered issues during their flyers in the session.

After missing the majority of Free Practice 1, Leclerc emerged immediately in FP2 at his home Grand Prix, after the gearbox in his SF21 racer was changed.

The Monegasque-youngster posted the first flying lap of the session – a 1:18.757 on the C4 yellow side-walled medium tyres – but was quickly abandoned after braking hard as he approached a pack of cars through the final sequences of corners.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi quickly relegated Leclerc down with a 1:17.029 before McLaren’s Lando Norris disposed of the Italian to go fastest with a 1:15.399.

The times continued to fall during the early running, with Sainz the next to go on top with a 1:14.997 – although the Spaniard was the only driver on the C3 white-marked harder compounds at that point.

Leclerc shot back to P1 before he was then knocked off by Verstappen’s effort – a 1:13.961 that the Dutchman improved on his following one setting a 1:13.499.

Hamilton then posted the same identical lap-time as Verstappen moments later, which meant the Briton moved into second after aborting his initial hot-lap after cutting across the second apex at the Nouvelle Chicane.

Near the end of the first quarter in the one hour session, Verstappen brought the benchmark down to a 1:13.241 – despite being down in the middle segment and finding traffic through the final corners.

Hamilton then jumped to the head of the time-sheets with a 1:12.772, then improved once more to a 1:12.569 after a slow lap in-between.

After a brief break in action, The Mercedes cars were given a set of C5 red-marked softer tyres just before the midway point, which Valtteri Bottas used to go quickest on a 1:12.107.

Not far behind, Hamilton was on a flyer on his initial stint on the softs, but lost a big amount of time after clipping the kerb at the second apex of the Nouvelle Chicane, which sent the 98-time Grand Prix winner so wide, he nearly whacked the harbour-side barrier on the outside.

The mistake meant he slotted behind Mercedes team-mate Bottas, 0.173 seconds off, having been up by almost 0.5 seconds at the end of sector one.

Nearly ten minutes later, Sainz set what looked to have been the fastest in the session with a 1:11.796 on his initial hot-lap on the softs, with Leclerc only 0.297 seconds behind after his first effort on the red-branded tyres.

Hamilton continued on using his set of softs, and just after the Ferrari’s put in their opening efforts on the softs, the seven-time World Champion found enough time despite no personal best sectors to set the session’s third best time.

With under 20 minutes remaining, Leclerc was running again on the softs, posting FP2’s fastest effort in the second sector after failing to set a personal best in sector one through the opening part of the Circuit De Monaco.

But his purple sector two and an improvement in the final segment – where the Ferrari driver ran very close to the wall on the inside of the main-straight – was enough to claim top spot with a 1:11.684.

Sainz wounded up 0.112 off in second while Hamilton a further 0.390 adrift taking third.

Verstappen was fourth and in-front of Bottas, with the Dutchman also encountering traffic at the end of his first flyers on the softs.

The long-race run data gathering period at the closing stages of FP2 ended prematurely as Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher crashed his VF-21 at Massenet – the German hitting the outside barrier with both his right-side wheels after losing the rear of his car through the middle sequence of the long left-hander.

He was able to keep running past the incident, but picked up a puncture and suspension damage, as Schumacher parked his VF-21 down the escape road beyond the chicane a little while later.

With the Haas unable to be moved quickly with less than five minutes remaining in the session, the red flags brought FP2 to an early end.

Norris finished in sixth place, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who was seventh and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who took eighth.

The aforementioned Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten with the latter reporting an eye issue halfway through the session.

Vettel reporting that it “feels like my eye is bleeding” before saying “I’m super emotional or there’s something stuck in my eye”, although he continued to run despite his discomfort.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen was 11th on the time-sheets and in-front of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso who took 12th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who ended the day 13th.

The other Alpine of Esteban Ocon wound up 14th and ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Williams Racing’s George Russell who were both 15th and 16th respectively.

Other drivers who encountered problems were Norris – who cut through the second part of the Swimming Pool sequence after catching a snap of over-steer at one point during the closing stages – and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi, who came to a halt after a “weird pushing moment” as he went through the hairpin just at the halfway mark as the Canadian ended the day 17th on the time-sheets.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin was 18th ahead of his aforementioned team-mate Schumacher and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who brought up the rear.

Tsunoda’s session ended early after clouting the barrier on the exit of the second part of the Swimming Pool chicane.

You can see the full Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2021 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1067/monaco/practice-2.html

Catch up on the earlier Free Practice 1 session here.

Read this weekend’s race preview here.