Verstappen fastest in Monaco FP2 Monaco, Sainz crashes
Max Verstappen finished atop the leaderboards during the second practice session on Friday in Monaco, while Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. ended his session abruptly by crashing into the unforgiving barriers of the Swimming Pool chicane.
Showing his mettle against the clock, Verstappen emerged as the first driver to dip into the 1’13s lap times, seizing the quickest position.
This came after the opening gauntlet was thrown by Fernando Alonso, who set the first representative time of the session with a 1’14.611.
But the Red Bull driver's dominance was clear, asserting himself ahead of teammate Sergio Perez and the reinvigorated Alonso, who improved his time to position himself between the Red Bulls.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton briefly knocked Verstappen off the top spot, besting the Dutchman's best by just one-thousandth of a second.
However, the championship leader returned fire, shaving a tenth off his personal best to reclaim his crown.
Meanwhile, McLaren's Lando Norris joined the fight a little later in the session, clocking his first laps around 10 minutes in.
The battle on soft tyres
Following a round of adjustments, Alonso was the first to be go out on the soft compound tyres.
He blazed around the circuit, setting a remarkable 1’12.786, while George Russell and Hamilton trailed by around four tenths of a second.
Alpines's Esteban Ocon followed closely in second, just a breath ahead of the Silver Arrows.
Next came the Ferrari duo to trial the softs, with first practice leader Sainz jumping ahead with a 1’12.569.
Leclerc, though impressive, couldn't match his teammate's pace on the softs, sliding into third place, just as Verstappen dislodged Leclerc to nestle himself third, a mere 0.168s shy of Sainz's best.
Sainz's late crash
In a decisive move, Verstappen climbed back to the top with a 1’12.462, besting Sainz's time by a tenth.
Leclerc, too, found extra pace, edging within a hair's breadth of Verstappen's lead, half a tenth behind.
Attempting to regain his earlier glory, Sainz pushed a touch too far, misjudging the Swimming Pool chicane and crashing into the barrier.
The incident prompted the session's halt to clear the Ferrari wreckage.
Final Moments and Standings
After Sainz's crash, the final moments of the session saw no significant changes, with teams seemingly focusing on optimizing race pace and higher fuel runs.
As the chequered flag dropped, Verstappen emerged the fastest, closely trailed by Leclerc and Sainz, who secured second and third respectively despite his late crash.
Rounding out the top five were Alonso in fourth and Norris in fifth, despite his early delay. Hamilton, meanwhile, ended in sixth, just ahead of Red Bull's Perez and Valtteri Bottas.
Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon filled the final top ten slots in their Alpines, underscoring an intense practice day at the famed Monaco circuit.
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