Hamilton flips Ferrari script on Leclerc in second Monaco GP practice

Lewis Hamilton edged Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc to top spot of second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix after defending Monte Carlo winner Lando Norris retired from the session with a car failure.

Though the margins were tight – Ferrari’s advantage was less than 0.2s over the field, down from more than half a second in FP1 – the Scuderia looked in control throughout the hour, with its front-running rivals struggling to match Hamilton and Leclerc’s medium-tire times on softs.

Leclerc reasserted himself with his first attempt on soft tires, but Hamilton, having followed him out of pit lane, replied with a new benchmark of 1m13.026s to eclipse his teammate by 0.111s.

As was the case in FP1, their closest challenger was Max Verstappen, who shrunk his deficit to only 0.168s in an optimistic showing for Red Bull Racing.

Neither Mercedes driver had an answer for the pace at the front of the field. George Russell led the way for the title-leading team, but the Englishman was 0.379s off the pace. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was scruffy on his way to fifth place and a further 0.124s off the pace.

Isack Hadjar sneaked into sixth place late in the session after his team successfully repaired his Red Bull Racing car following his heavy crash at the second Swimming Pool chicane in FP1. Work was completed around 10 minutes into the session, allowing Hadjar to complete a respectable 23 laps for the hour, albeit 1.061s off the pace and 0.893s behind teammate Verstappen.

Oscar Piastri completed the front-running group, but the Australian was a significant 1.062s slower than session leader Hamilton despite a mostly clean run bar a tap of the outside barrier on the run down to Portier.

Piastri was the only McLaren driver to make it more than 15 minutes into the session after teammate Norris’s car appeared to switch itself off under braking exiting the tunnel. Norris parked his car in the run-off zone at the chicane and walked away, but it took a marshals several minutes to clear the car, which appeared stuck in gear, under virtual safety car conditions.

The defending champion completed just eight laps before the failure, leaving him down on mileage in 19th place for the session.

Audi consolidated its claim to the head of the midfield, wtih Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto completing the top 10, the German and the Brazilian 1.068s and 1.333s off the pace respectively.

Pierre Gasly was 11th ahead of Williams teammates Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, with Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad following.

Franco Colapinto gave the outside barrier at Sainte Devote a hefty whack late in the session, making contact with his front-right and then rear-right corners, on his way to 15th ahead of Liam Lawson and Esteban ocon.

Sergio Perez was 18th for Cadillac but retired from the session with five minutes remaining after his front-right brake disc caught fire. The Mexican parked off the racing line at Casino Square, where marshals deployed their fire extinguishers while the session was red flagged.

Norris ended the session 19th ahead of Fernando Alonso in his recalcitrant Aston Martin, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll, the only driver more than 3s off the pace, at the tail of the field.

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