F1 Monaco GP: Lewis Hamilton tops FP2 in another…

Lewis Hamilton capped off a perfect Friday at the Monaco Grand Prix for Ferrari by leading another 1-2 in second practice while Lando Norris suffered an early retirement.

The seven-time world champion set a 1m13.026s, which was 0.111s quicker than team-mate Charles Leclerc - who led Hamilton in a 1-2 for Ferrari during first practice at the principality.

The Italian outfit is looking like the team to beat this weekend thanks to its strength in slow-speed corners, hoping to end Mercedes’ perfect start to the 2026 campaign.

The Silver Arrows won all five grands prix this year, the last two coming on sprint weekends, so FP2 has become a novelty at this point with Monaco being the first since Japan in March.

A busy start was therefore no surprise and it saw all teams bar Aston Martin use new medium tyres, softs for the Silverstone outfit, with the early lead changing hands multiple times.

That was before Norris suffered an issue with his MCL40 12 minutes in, sending his McLaren down the Nouvelle Chicane escape road and into an early retirement for the world champion.

Lando Norris, McLaren (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

This caused a virtual safety car that ended 20 minutes into the session. Leclerc then very quickly went top with a 1m13.613s, 0.365s faster than his FP1 benchmark.

By this point, Ferrari was the only team sub 1m14s, Hamilton having set a 1m13.671s right before Norris’ retirement. FP2 then ramped up halfway into the one-hour outing.

That’s when teams started fitting the soft tyre and although championship leader Kimi Antonelli couldn’t topple Leclerc at first, Max Verstappen did with a 1m13.467s in his Red Bull.

Next to jump ahead of the Ferrari duo was George Russell with a 1m13.515s, so the Italian outfit built its way into the soft-tyre window rather than showing its hand straight away.

Verstappen therefore stretched his advantage with a 1m13.194s, before Ferrari finally set hot laps on soft rubber: Leclerc did a 1m13.137s, before a 1m13.026s for Hamilton.

Those lap times subsequently went unbeaten across the final 22 minutes, as some teams returned to the medium tyre to run through testing programmes before a late red flag.

Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images)

That red flag came out with five minutes remaining after Sergio Perez’s smoky Cadillac stopped at Casino Square and that pretty much caused an early end to second practice.

This meant Verstappen remained third with his 1m13.194s ahead of fourth-placed Russell, whose Mercedes team-mate Antonelli took fifth and was 0.503s behind Hamilton.

Sixth went to Isack Hadjar, who had a late start to FP2 after his FP1 crash but the Red Bull driver recovered positively to end up with a 1m14.087s, 0.001s ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg took eighth with a 1m14.094s, 0.265s ahead of Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth with Haas driver Oliver Bearman completing the top 10 on a 1m14.456s.