Monaco, FP2: Leclerc leads Ferrari one-two in Monaco as Ricciardo crashes

Charles Leclerc topped a Ferrari 1-2 in the second practice session for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix with the Monegasque driver finishing four hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, as McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo hit the barriers midway through the session, bringing out the red flags.

At the start of the session Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez led the way on medium compound tyres, while the Ferrari drivers opted to start on the hard tyres having spent the first practice session on medium rubber. But after five minutes Leclerc’s tyres began to come alive and he jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:15.763. Sainz then took over with a lap of 1:14.880.

After 10 minutes, Perez took his medium tyres to 1:14.001 with world championship-leading team-mate Max Verstappen in second. Leclerc then improved in third as the first quarter of an hour elapsed.

The session was brought to a halt, however, when Ricciardo crashed heavily in the second part of the Swimming Pool complex. The Australian driver lost the rear of his McLaren as he went into Turn 13. He tried to recover the loss of grip but his car snapped left into the barriers, breaking the front-left suspension. With his front wing also dislodged, Ricciardo slid down the track into the barriers into the second part of the complex.

There was a 10-minute delay as his wrecked car was recovered and when running resumed most of the field switched to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso briefly took top spot with a lap of 1:13.912, before Pérez usurped him with the lap of 1:13.324. Verstappen then had slotted in behind his teammate but Leclerc then powered to P1 with a lap of 1:13.125. The local favourite went for another run and improved to 1:12.764 and then again to record a best time of 1:12.656 that put him four tenths clear of the Red Bulls Sainz then posted a time of 1:12.700s to finish 0.044s slower than his team-mate.

Lando Norris took fifth in the other McLaren, while George Russell was sixth for Mercedes. Pierre Gasly was seventh for AlphaTauri ahead of Alonso and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, while Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10. Eleventh place went to Haas’ Kevin Magnussen while seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton finished in 12th place.