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FP2 report: Lewis Hamilton narrowly beats Valtteri Bottas in Monaco

FP2 report: Lewis Hamilton narrowly beats Valtteri Bottas in Monaco

23-05-2019 15:30 Last update: 15:52
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Matt Gretton

Editor-in-Chief

Mercedes complete a practice double as Lewis Hamilton finishes top of the timesheets in FP2. Sebastian Vettel looked more competitive for a while, but Mercedes brought out the soft tyres and pulled ahead.

Lewis Hamilton topped FP1 and has now completed the Thursday double at the top of the timesheets. Valtteri Bottas came second, but still finished almost a second ahead of Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc, on his home circuit, spent much of the session in P10 behind both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Leclerc couldn't improve on his time as he took part in some longer runs late in the session. 

One of the eye-catching results of FP2 was Alex Albon. He's had a very good day, and this afternoon he spent time ahead of both Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman managed to get ahead, but Verstappen couldn't beat the Toro Rosso driver.

It was an incident-free session, but a number of drivers ran wide at Sainte Devote. George Russell made the first lock-up at turn 1 and was soon followed by Romain Grosjean. But the runoff area then welcomed nine world titles as Hamilton produced a massive lock-up before Vettel went in. They all avoided contact.

Verstappen had a problem with his car around the hour mark. The Red Bull mechanics had to work hard to get him back on track. With 10 minutes to go Verstappen got back on track but couldn't record a faster time as balance issues prevented him from pushing. 

What about the rest?

Alfa Romeo had a very good session for their standards. Rookie Giovinazzi managed to beat his experienced teammate, but that won't matter as they both finished inside the top 10. Also inside the top 10 was Kevin Magnussen. He finished as high as P7 to recover from Haas' woes this morning. 

Lando Norris continued the impressive form from the rookies by beating his teammate Carlos Sainz. Both McLaren drivers finished on the edge of the top 10 in P12 and P13. 

But it was more disappointment from Renault, Racing Point and Williams who sit at the back of the grid. 

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