Lewis Hamilton topped Friday’s second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix with a blistering 1:13.026, handing Ferrari a flawless 1‑2 after teammate Charles Leclerc’s 1:13.137.
Ferrari’s pace on soft tyres
After a brief virtual safety car triggered by Lando Norris’s early retirement, the field switched to soft compounds. Max Verstappen briefly eclipsed Leclerc with a 1:13.467, but the Italian duo responded swiftly, Leclerc posting 1:13.137 before Hamilton improved to the session‑best 1:13.026. No other driver breached the sub‑1:14 barrier on soft rubber, underscoring Ferrari’s advantage in the low‑speed sections of Monte Carlo.
Incidents and final standings
Norris’s MCL40 stalled on the Nouvelle Chicane, sending the McLaren into the escape road and prompting a five‑minute safety car that later morphed into a red flag when Sergio Perez’s Cadillac emitted smoke at Casino Square. The interruption locked the top four: Verstappen third (1:13.194), George Russell fourth (1:13.515), and Kimi Antonelli fifth, half a second adrift of Hamilton. Behind them, Isack Hadjar edged Oscar Piastri by a hair, while Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman completed the top ten.
Ferrari’s dominance in this session, combined with Mercedes’s early‑season sweep, suggests a tightly contested finale to the Monaco weekend as teams scramble for optimal low‑speed corner performance.
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