Are Ferrari in Monaco mix after Charles Leclerc leads stunning one-two in practice?

Charles Leclerc in practice at Monaco — Photo: © LAT Images

Monaco Grand Prix

Are Ferrari in Monaco mix after Leclerc leads stunning one-two in practice?

Leclerc and Sainz were only drivers to dip below 72 seconds

Ian Parkes

Thursday 20 May 2021 16:01 Updated: 16:46

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Charles Leclerc led a stunning Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix to put F1 title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the shade.

After missing all but 10 minutes of FP1 after sustaining a terminal gearbox problem that necessitated a change in between sessions, Leclerc bounced back in fine style in the second hour-long run around the Principality.

It appeared as if team-mate Carlos Sainz would finish top of the timsheet at a time when the majority of the drivers had commenced their long-run simulations.

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But on home soil, and with the final hot lap of the session, Leclerc managed to go a tenth of a second quicker than Sainz with a time of one minute 11.684secs.

It has to be remembered this was only practice, but Ferrari's performance was still eye-catching, with third-quickest Hamilton 0.390s adrift in his Mercedes, and with Verstappen hot on his heels just 0.007s further back.

But with qualifying so crucial at a circuit where it is almost impossible to pass, the Scuderia appeared to focus more on its one-lap pace than that of long runs.

Valtteri Bottas was just over four-tenths of a second down on Leclerc in fifth, followed by the leading McLaren of Lando Norris, with his car resplendent in its one-off Gulf livery.

As per FP1, Norris was comfortably ahead of team-mate Ricciardo who was nine-tenths of a second behind the Briton as he appeared far from happy with his MCL35M, with the Australian a lowly 15th.

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly again fared well, with the Frenchman seventh quickest ahead of Sergio Perez in his Red Bull as the Mexican failed to follow up his form from FP1 in which he led the way, only to find himself a second down in FP2.

Alfa Romeo duo Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen then sandwiched Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, with the four-time F1 champion 1.3s adrift.

Alpine appear to be struggling around the streets of the Principality as Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were down in 12th and 14th, either side of Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin.

George Russell edged Williams' team-mate Nicolas Latifi in 16th and 17th, with Nikita Mazepin managing to get the best of Mick Schumacher by just 0.009s as they ended up in 18th and 19th.

Schumacher ended the session five minutes early by bringing out the red flags with a shunt into a barrier, leading to the German parking up his car in the escape road at the Nouvelle Chicane.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda brought up the rear as the Japanese driver clouted a barrier coming out of the swimming pool complex, leaving him 3.145s down and with only 11 laps to his name.