Hamilton continues fine form as Ferrari leads Verstappen in Monaco

The two Mercedes drivers were four to five tenths slower than the seven-time world champion, with George Russell finishing fourth ahead of his championship rival Kimi Antonelli on Friday.

Drivers were quick to get out on track in FP2 as well, most opting for medium tyres. Aston Martin was the exception, choosing to begin the session on softs. Ferrari immediately set the pace, and after the opening runs were completed, Leclerc and Hamilton held a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field.

After the first 15 minutes, with drivers consistently setting laps, Hamilton led the session ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc with a 1:13.7. Norris' session also came to an end at that moment, as his McLaren stopped at the Nouvelle Chicane. The incident only led to a Virtual Safety Car, and the marshals removed the MCL40 from the track within a couple of minutes.

Out of the frontrunning teams, Verstappen was the first to switch to the soft tyres this afternoon and was then joined by the two Mercedes drivers with around 35 minutes to go. Despite being on the slower medium compound, Ferrari continued to match its rivals' lap times.

Ferrari then fitted the soft tyres later on. With 20 minutes to go, Hamilton once again moved to the top of the timesheets after setting a 1:13.0. During the final minutes, no one improved their lap times in Monte Carlo. Leclerc ended up a tenth slower than Hamilton; however, if his quickest sectors were combined, he would have been fastest.

After two red flags in FP1, one caused by Isack Hadjar and another by Fernando Alonso towards the end of the session, there were no crashes, aside from a couple of drivers brushing the walls. Franco Colapinto had the biggest scare at Turn 1, but the young Argentine was able to continue running afterwards.

However, during the final five minutes, a red flag was brought out after the brakes on Sergio Perez's Cadillac caught fire, preventing the drivers from setting further flying laps.