FP2: Leclerc tops second practice, Hamilton ends up third at Monaco

Having dominated the opening practice session on home turf, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc continued to impress in the second one-hour session, setting the benchmark ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc opted for the the hard compound for the opening stages of the second practice session, and despite being on harder tyres than the majority of his rivals, he found himself on top of the leaderboard.

When he bolted on a set of soft tyres, he moved the benchmark down to a 1m11.355s, which would finish as the fastest time on Friday.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed into the walls at Turn 1 midway through the session, but he was able to get himself out of the walls and limped back to the pits. The incident required a short red flag period, but the action could quickly continue. The Australian recovered from his incident to finish second, just 0.038s behind Leclerc.

On the back of a strong race last time out at Imola, seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton finished just one-tenth behind his team mate, while McLaren's Lando Norris completed the top four.

Racing Bulls did not stand out with their performance earlier during the practice day, but Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar posted very impressive lap times on the final flying laps on the softs.

The New Zealander ended up in P5 ahead of team mate Hadjar, who found the barriers at Sainte Devote on a cooldown lap inside the final 10 minutes, which left the Racing Bulls machine with damage as he crabbed back to the pits.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso displayed eye-catching pace at last weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and he has seemingly carried that form over to Monte Carlo. The Spaniard ended up seventh on Friday while his team-mate Lance Stroll took only 18th.

Williams were brilliant at Imola, and but they slightly lacked pace on the opening day at Monaco. Alexander Albon finished in P8, five places ahead of his team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli suffered his first DNF last time out at Imola, but he looked fairly strong today, finishing ninth while his team-mate George Russell took only 12th.

Hot on the heels of his sensational victory in Italy, reigning champion Max Verstappen looked unhappy with his Red Bull, having gone into the run-off area at one point. The Dutchman finished tenth, just 0.004s ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda.

Sauber displayed a relatively strong form today, with Gabriel Bortoleto having put his Kick Sauber in 14th with team mate Nico Hulkenberg finished in 16th.

Haas driver Ollie Bearman took 15th, but his day ended in drama as he has been hit with a 10-place grid penalty for the race for overtaking under the red flag.

Alpine endured a disappointing day as Pierre Gasly finished down in P17 as team mate Franco Colapinto ended last of the 20 runners.