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

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

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	32	1’11.355		S	168.358
2	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	28	+0.038 1’11.393	0.038	S	168.268
3	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	30	+0.105 1’11.460	0.067	S	168.110
4	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	32	+0.322 1’11.677	0.217	S	167.601
5	L. LawsonRacing Bulls	30		RB	Honda	32	+0.468 1’11.823	0.146	S	167.261
6	I. HadjarRacing Bulls	6		RB	Honda	17	+0.487 1’11.842	0.019	S	167.216
7	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	30	+0.535 1’11.890	0.048	S	167.105
8	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	34	+0.563 1’11.918	0.028	S	167.040
9	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+0.647 1’12.002	0.084	S	166.845
10	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	29	+0.713 1’12.068	0.066	S	166.692
11	Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	30	+0.717 1’12.072	0.004	S	166.683
12	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+0.737 1’12.092	0.020	S	166.637
13	C. SainzWilliams	55		Williams	Mercedes	32	+0.796 1’12.151	0.059	M	166.500
14	G. BortoletoSauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	29	+0.879 1’12.234	0.083	S	166.309
15	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	33	+0.904 1’12.259	0.025	M	166.251
16	N. HulkenbergSauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	32	+0.907 1’12.262	0.003	S	166.245
17	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	34	+1.049 1’12.404	0.142	S	165.919
18	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	30	+1.157 1’12.512	0.108	S	165.671
19	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	33	+1.186 1’12.541	0.029	S	165.605
20	F. ColapintoAlpine	43		Alpine	Renault	31	+2.060 1’13.415	0.874	S	163.634
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