Rosberg still ahead as times tumble in FP2

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Nico Rosberg stayed ahead in the timesheets of FP2, now going 0.3s quicker than his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari is fairly close behind them Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen complete the top 6.

Contrary to the morning session, the track is filled with cars as of the green light. The same contenders as in FP1 soon find themselves in the top end of the timesheet, with Alonso posting a 1:15.519 15 minutes into the session, ahead of Grosjean, the Mercedes cars and his teammate, Felipe Massa. All men did so on the soft Pirelli tyres, while Vergne moments later is the first to go out on the supersofts.

Half a minute into the session, Vettel sets his first time, half a second slower than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber meanwhile is at a standstill in the pits as the team check up his Red Bull RB9 after hitting a dove on track.

5 minutes later, Romain Grosjean hits the barriers at St. Devote, breaking his front left suspension and ruining the aerodynamics on the left hand side of his car. The Frenchman locked up the right front wheel while braking, got understeer and hit the outer barriers. This marks the end of his FP2 for him.

Meanwhile several drivers opted to have a go on the supersoft tyres, with Rosberg emerging on top of the timesheet, ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen and Grosjean.

Once the session was green flagged again, many drivers started longer runs, mostly opting for the super soft to find out how far a race stint can go. Mercedes surely appeared to suffer less degradation than at previous events while Lotus and Ferrari both look strong on the longer runs.