Monaco Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two in practice
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
- From the section Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton pipped Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes dominated second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The world champion was just 0.081 seconds ahead of the Finn.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, third behind the Mercedes in first practice, missed much of the second as a result of a water leak and ended up sixth fastest.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third fastest - but a massive 0.763secs off the pace. Team-mate Charles Leclerc was 10th, struggling with braking problems.
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Vettel also had a near-miss at Turn One, when he locked a wheel on entry and just managed to get the car stopped before hitting the barriers.
There was even worse news for Ferrari on the race-simulation runs later in the session, when Vettel was on average more than a second slower than the Mercedes.
Verstappen had been within 0.1secs of the Mercedes in the first session, and split Hamilton and Bottas on the first runs in the afternoon. But after Red Bull discovered the leak he then spent nearly an hour in the garage.
When the Dutchman got back out on track with about 10 minutes to go, he complained of a lack of grip and could not improve.
His team-mate Pierre Gasly was fourth fastest, 0.820secs off the Mercedes, having been a second slower than Verstappen in the morning session.
Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon, the Anglo-Thai rookie, was an impressive fifth fastest, continuing his strong showing this season.
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was seventh, ahead of the Alfa Romeos of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen and Leclerc.
The McLarens of British rookie Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz were 12th and 13th, while the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo were a lowly 16th and 17th
The other British driver, Williams's George Russell, was 19th, just 0.094secs ahead of team-mate Robert Kubica.
