Leclerc sets scorching Friday pace
Monaco’s own Charles Leclerc ended Friday on a high after setting a scorching pace in FP2 in his Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Leclerc’s 1:11.278 on the Softs was so it was unchallenged for the entire second half of the one hour session and was a tenth faster than last year’s pole time set by Max Verstappen.
The Monégasque was 0.188s clear of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso following the clean one-hour session.
Verstappen was half a second back in fourth ahead of Lando Norris.
After being a close second in FP1, Australia’s Oscar Piastri was 11th after not using the Soft tyre and focusing on long runs in a session slightly disrupted by a scrape with the wall.
Daniel Ricciardo in 16th also set his fastest time on the Mediums.
The session started in overcast skies and Verstappen showed decent speed on the Hard tyres.
Both Piastri and Perez had some close calls with the barrier, while Logan Sargeant found the limit and whacked the guardrail on the exit of Antony Noghes.
By the 10 minute mark the drivers had found their limits with Leclerc the first into the 1m12s window.
His 1:12.372 on the mediums was the new benchmark by a big eight tenths, while George Russell had set a purple first sector before bowling a wide at the Norvelle Chicane.
Despite being on Hards, Piastri had good enough pace to rise to second before being edged by Verstappen on the same rubber and Hamilton on Mediums.
As the session approached the halfway mark there was the first sighting of Softs.
However, Verstappen, Perez and Albon still could not match Leclerc’s benchmark despite using softer rubber.
The Ferrari driver was now also on the red walled tyres and went even faster, smashing out a chart-topping 1:11.278 just shy of midway.
With Alonso jumping Verstappen to take P2, the Dutchman grazed the wall on the approach to Portier.
Second place continued changing hands until Hamilton jumped clear and came within 0.188s of the #16, while Verstappen’s further attempts were thwarted by a slow moving Yuki Tsunoda.
Piastri focused on long runs and missed out on track time as his team assessed the car following a scrape with the wall.
Lance Stroll hit the wall late in the piece and did not return, while Russell reported “something feels weird in a straight line.”
With five separate teams in the fastest five spots in FP2, the fight for the biggest pole of the year at Monaco is wide open after an interesting and clean opening day of the 70th Monaco Grand Prix.
2024 Monaco Grand Prix FP2 results
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:11.278 | 36 | ||
| 2 | 1:11.466 | +0.188s | 31 | |
| 3 | 1:11.753 | +0.475s | 36 | |
| 4 | 1:11.813 | +0.535s | 36 | |
| 5 | 1:11.953 | +0.675s | 34 | |
| 6 | 1:11.962 | +0.684s | 35 | |
| 7 | 1:12.062 | +0.784s | 22 | |
| 8 | 1:12.099 | +0.821s | 30 | |
| 9 | 1:12.257 | +0.979s | 37 | |
| 10 | 1:12.260 | +0.982s | 29 | |
| 11 | 1:12.349 | +1.071s | 35 | |
| 12 | 1:12.366 | +1.088s | 34 | |
| 13 | 1:12.473 | +1.195s | 30 | |
| 14 | 1:12.554 | +1.276s | 33 | |
| 15 | 1:12.569 | +1.291s | 33 | |
| 16 | 1:12.577 | +1.299s | 36 | |
| 17 | 1:12.750 | +1.472s | 34 | |
| 18 | 1:12.790 | +1.512s | 35 | |
| 19 | 1:13.057 | +1.779s | 30 | |
| 20 | 1:13.773 | +2.495s | 31 |
Photo by Sam Bloxham / LAT Images
2024 Monaco Grand Prix Schedule:
Friday, May 24th:
FP1: 21:30 – 22:30
Saturday, May 25th:
FP2: 01:00 – 02:00
FP3: 20:30 – 21:30
Sunday, May 26th:
Qualifying: 00:00 – 01:00
Race: 23:00
Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images
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