F1 Monaco GP live commentary and updates - FP2
Follow along for updates from second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix
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Hadjar is the only driver on track using mediums at the moment, out of sync with the others given his later start to the session. Hamilton likely to rejoin on softs shortly.
Leclerc leaving the garage on softs now.
Hulkenberg also lapping quickly on the softs - relatively speaking. He's P5 but very much second tier, half a second off Verstappen's benchmark.
P3 becomes P4 as Verstappen goes fastest on 1m13.467s. Russell hits traffic in the final sector and bails out of his lap.
Well we spoke too soon - Antonelli's first lap on softs is a 1m13.850s, not enough for better than P3.
Leclerc heads to the pits after 15 laps on those mediums, having clocked the fastest lap yet in this session - 1m13.613s - before he signed off. That's 0.058s quicker than Hamilton in P2.
But the laptimes are set to tumble with others now on softs.
Verstappen, Gasly and Hulkenberg also now going out on softs.
Russell parked after 10 laps, while Antonelli did 11 in total. Now both Mercedes head out again on softs.
Verstappen has pitted after nine laps on the mediums, while Hamilton and Leclerc continue to circulate – 13 laps in so far, as are Bearman, Ocon, Perez and Albon on the same medium compound. Stroll is also 13 laps into his stint on softs.
"My seat keeps clicking" complains Hamilton on the radio. And all last year he was saying he couldn't click with the car...
Before all that transpired, Hamilton usurped Verstappen with a 1m13.729s.
F1 TV cuts to the scene – yes, Norris is out of the car. It's being dealt with under a virtual safety car for now. Replays from the onboard camera indicates some sort of gearbox gremlin as he braked and downshifted at the tunnel exit.
The marshals are making unusually heavy weather of removing this car. All F1 cars have a button which disconnects the clutch, enabling it to be pushed away, but that clearly hasn't worked (or the marshals couldn't find it). They've lifted the car car onto a trolley to push it clear.
Our GPS trace shows Norris's car stopped at the chicane.
And, yes, Hadjar leaves his garage. "Thank you guys" he says on the radio.
Norris the first to return to the pits but he's now back out again after a brief adjustment, and running on the same set of mediums.
Verstappen P1 again, 1m14.008s – we're not far away from breaking into the 13s...
Hadjar is now in the cockpit of his Red Bull so we're not far away from having all cars on track.
Russell and Antonelli P4 and P6 for now, but we're used to the spectacle of Mercedes not showing its hand until later in the session.
Valtteri Bottas misses the apex of the chicane but continues without harm.
Yes, Verstappen's reign is ended quickly by the two Ferraris – Leclerc quickest for now.
Verstappen goes quickest of these opening sallies with a 1m15.993s but it's very early days yet, of course.
Hadjar's car still not out on track but the F1 TV feed reveals it's undergoing final preparations. We can expect to see Isack shortly.
Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso both out on track, and running softs. We speculate that even thus equipped, they will not trouble the top 10.
...which reminds me of an old Bob Monkhouse quip about being like the man who slapped the cheerful old lady at the seance: you've got to strike a happy medium.
Hmm, probably best left in the 1970s that one...
All the cars so far are on new mediums.
AND WE'RE OFF
Appropriately enough, it's a Mercedes at the head of the queue to leave the pits. George Russell followed by Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg.
Isack Hadjar's car still up on axle stands and in a state of disassembly with 10 minutes to go before the start of the session.
WELCOME BACK TO MONACO
And quite frankly we can't wait to see cars going around the circuit again after that rather peculiar team representatives' press conference in which Flavio Briatore was incomprehensible, Dan Towriss talked a lot without saying much, and Pedro de la Rosa seemed to be on a mission to commit Accidental Partridge with every response.
Phew!
Missed the earlier session and today's matters arising? We've got you...
By: Stuart Codling
