F1 Monaco GP: Hamilton heads Ferrari 1-2 from Verstappen in FP2

Lewis Hamilton capped off a perfect Friday at the Monaco Grand Prix for Ferrari by leading another 1-2 in second practice, while Lando Norris suffered an early exit.

The seven-time world champion set a 1m13.026s which was 0.111s quicker than team-mate Charles Leclerc, who led Hamilton in a 1-2 for Ferrari during first practice at the principality. 

It means the Italian outfit is the team to beat this weekend thanks to its strength in slow-speed corners, hoping to end Mercedes’ perfect start to the 2026 campaign.

The Silver Arrows has won all five grands prix this year, the last two coming on sprint weekends, so FP2 has become a novelty at this point with Monaco being the first to host it since Japan in March. 

A busy start was therefore no surprise and it saw all teams bar Aston Martin use new mediums, softs for the Silverstone outfit, with the early lead changing hands multiple times.

That was before Norris suffered an unspecified problem 12 minutes in, sending his McLaren down the Nouvelle Chicane escape road and into an early retirement for the world champion. 

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

It caused a virtual safety car that ended 20 minutes into the session and Leclerc then very quickly went top with a 1m13.613s, 0.365s faster than his FP1 benchmark.

So by this point Ferrari was the only team sub 1m14s, Hamilton having set a 1m13.671s right before Norris’ retirement, but then FP2 ramped up halfway into the one-hour outing. 

That’s when teams started fitting the soft tyre and although championship leader Kimi Antonelli couldn’t topple Leclerc at first, Max Verstappen did with a 1m13.467s in his Red Bull.

Next to jump ahead of the Ferrari duo was George Russell with a 1m13.515s, so the Italian outfit built its way into the soft-tyre window rather than showing its hand straight away. 

Verstappen therefore stretched his advantage with a 1m13.194s, before Ferrari finally set hot laps on soft rubber: Leclerc did a 1m13.137s, before a 1m13.026s for Hamilton.

Those lap times subsequently went unbeaten across the final 22 minutes, as some teams returned to the medium tyre to switch to long run programmes before a late red flag caused by Sergio Perez’s smoky Cadillac which stopped at Casino Square. 

It meant Verstappen remained third with his 1m13.194s ahead of fourth-placed Russell, whose Mercedes team-mate Antonelli took fifth and was 0.503s behind Hamilton. 

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images

Sixth went to Isack Hadjar, who had a late start to FP2 after his FP1 crash but the Red Bull driver recovered positively to end up with a 1m14.087s, 0.001s ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg took eighth with a 1m14.094s, 0.265s ahead of Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth with Haas driver Oliver Bearman completing the top 10 on a 1m14.456s.

F1 Monaco GP - FP2 results 

FP2

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	36	1'13.026		S
2	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	36	+0.111 1'13.137	0.111	S
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	35	+0.168 1'13.194	0.057	S
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	35	+0.379 1'13.405	0.211	S
5	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	35	+0.503 1'13.529	0.124	S
6	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+1.061 1'14.087	0.558	S
7	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	31	+1.062 1'14.088	0.001	S
8	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		Audi	Audi	34	+1.068 1'14.094	0.006	S
9	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	35	+1.333 1'14.359	0.265	S
10	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	37	+1.430 1'14.456	0.097	S
11	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	37	+1.471 1'14.497	0.041	S
12	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	34	+1.486 1'14.512	0.015	S
13	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	39	+1.574 1'14.600	0.088	S
14	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	37	+1.722 1'14.748	0.148	S
15	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	31	+1.732 1'14.758	0.010	S
16	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		RB	Red Bull	36	+1.759 1'14.785	0.027	S
17	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	35	+1.819 1'14.845	0.060	S
18	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		Cadillac	Ferrari	31	+2.090 1'15.116	0.271	S
19	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	8	+2.248 1'15.274	0.158	M
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	30	+2.268 1'15.294	0.020	S
21	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	28	+2.733 1'15.759	0.465	S
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Honda	27	+3.148 1'16.174	0.415	S
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