Leclerc tops practice: Monaco

Home favourite Charles Leclerc took top spot in the second practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by almost two tenths of a second as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished almost three tenths of a second further back in third. 

Leclerc was to the fore from the first part of the second hour of practice. The Monegasque driver posted a lap of 1:12.372 on Medium tyres to bypass an early Hard tyre time of 1:13.265 set by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. 

Leclerc then began to chip away at his own benchmark, first lowering the bar to 1m12.260s and then posting a time of 1:12.125 on the same set of medium tyres. He eventually worked his C4 best down to 1:11.573, but as the half way mark in the session neared the field began to move to C5 Soft tyres for qualifying simulations. 

Verstappen got close to the Ferrari driver’s P1 time but Leclerc, with the red-banded tyres on board, further stretched his advantage, pumping a lap of 1:11.278 to consolidate his hold on top spot. 

Pushing again to edge closer to the Ferrari man, Verstappen clipped the wall in Portier with the rear of his Red Bull and was forced to abort his lap. 

The missed attempt left Verstappen’s P2 time vulnerable and first Alonso moved past it, with the Spanish veteran posting a time of 1:11.753 to beat the Red Bull driver by six hundredths of a second. Hamilton, who had gone quickest in the first session, then shuffled Alonso back as he claimed the runner-up spoty with a time of 1:11.466. 

It meant that Verstappen was left with P4 and the Dutch driver was again unhappy with the behaviour of his RB20, at one point saying that he was “jumping around like a kangaroo” and that the balance was giving him a headache.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished fifth, ahead of Carlos Sainz, who finished almost seven tenths adrift of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc. Lance Stroll was seventh in the second Aston Martin, a little under four hundredths of a second ahead of Sergio Pérez in the other Red Bull. Alex Albon was ninth for Williams wh9ile George Russell rounded out the top ten.

2024 FIA Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.278 37 168.540
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.466 0.188 32 168.096
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:11.753 0.475 37 167.424
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:11.813 0.535 37 167.284
5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:11.953 0.675 35 166.958
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.962 0.684 36 166.938
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.062 0.784 22 166.706
8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:12.099 0.821 31 166.620
9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:12.257 0.979 38 166.256
10 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.260 0.982 30 166.249
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:12.349 1.071 36 166.045
12 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.366 1.088 35 166.006
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:12.473 1.195 31 165.761
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:12.554 1.276 34 165.575
15 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:12.569 1.291 34 165.541
16 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:12.577 1.299 37 165.523
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:12.750 1.472 35 165.129
18 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:12.790 1.512 36 165.039
19 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:13.057 1.779 31 164.435
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:13.773 2.495 32 162.840