FP2 Highlights | 2026 Monaco Grand Prix

Second practice in Monte Carlo. F1's finest with another hour of track time ahead to really get to grips with the Circuit de Monaco. Many have touted Ferrari as the team to beat on this narrow, twisty course where downforce rather than extreme speed rules. And so it proved in FP1 when Chollapleur had been fastest from teammate Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion playing catch-up in this session, he flirted with disaster on an early quick lap. Oh, you just feel it's a place that you can split a Formula 1 car in two if you get it wrong. It's that difficult and that high speed with no barrier margin. Three times a winner on these streets, he continued to push throughout the session, locking up, approaching the Nouvelle chicane, and then taking a whole bunch of kerb at the same spot the next time around. My word, that's more kerb than I've seen so far down at that chicane, I think. Hamilton on the edge of rear grip, pings it over the kerb, bounces through. And it was the Briton with the bragging rights in this session. His lap of 1'13.026, more than a tenth quicker than Leclerc's best effort for P2. The teammates even had a little race after the flag, great four-tenths perhaps for Sunday's main event. Max Verstappen had not been entirely happy with his ride in FP1 despite a decent P3 performance. This time out, he seemed much more hooked up, especially on the soft tyres, and managed the same placing again. Only this time, he was a bit closer to the Scuderia drivers. Red Bull teammate Isaac Hancher, who crashed out of FP2, was P6 this time around, his mechanics working wonders in the interim. There was a hairy moment for George Russell early doors. Oh my word, the car getting loose during the first part of the swimming pool. He will need an underwear change. He was later blocked on a fast lap by a slow-moving Gabriel Bortoletto. The Briton believes he's had more than his fair share of bad luck so far this season, but was upbeat coming into the weekend, feeling the odds would even out across the year. He's currently P2 in the Drivers' Championship, some 43 points behind Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, but he was one place ahead of the Italian in second practice, P4 after the hour. It was a short session for reigning world champion and defending Monaco master Lando Norris, who encountered a technical problem exiting the tunnel. You know what it looks like? It's incredibly similar to Russell's DNF in Canada. It was a battery issue for Russell. It's a total shutdown of the car there, so the whole thing's gone blank. Difficult. McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri scraped the wall at Portier as he attempted to open up the corner into the tunnel. He was P7 at the flag. The papaya pair have found themselves behind both Mercedes and Ferrari this year and will need to find a bit extra if they're to keep in touch as the season develops. Monaco is a very technical track. Millimeters can be the difference between a lap for the ages and one to forget. Amongst those misjudging their lines were Valtteri Bottas, who took his Cadillac across the Nouvelle Chicane, and Liam Lawson, who touched the barriers at the swimming pool. Lance Stroll locked up and narrowly avoided a collision with the advertising hoardings at Portier. Franco Colopinto smoked his tyres at Saint-Devault but committed to the turn, glancing both the left-hand wheels along the armcone. He made it back to the pits but never re-emerged. Alex Albin had to have his wits about him through Massenet when the Williams man found Arvid Lindblad on his racing line. Pierre Gasly, who made the top ten in FP1, found traffic at Mirabeau in the guise of Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez, one of just a handful of current drivers to have won this race, was forced to park up at Casino, smoke pouring from his Cadillac's cockpit. So, another Ferrari 1-2, Hamilton from Leclerc with Verstappen snapping at their heels. Then came the Mercedes men, followed by Hadja, Piastri, Hülkenberg, Bortoletto and Oliver Behrmann. P11 for Gasly and he was followed by Sainz, Albin, Lindblad, Colopinto, Lawson, Ocon, Perez, Norris, Alonso, Bottas and Stroll.