Max Verstappen gets the fastest time in the second free practice, although the Ferrari is not far

In summaryMax Verstappen can still have a good feeling about Friday in the streets of Monte Carlo, after first free practice it didn’t go well. The Dutchman was faster in the second free practice, although the margins in particular for Ferrari were certainly not encouraging. Nyck de Vries was again behind his teammate.

The second free practice in the seniority went without a hitch for a long time. The drivers drove their laps in search of the best qualifying order for tomorrow in particular. There was already a lot of pedaling on the yellow tires, before the team made the switch to a softer (and therefore faster) ball.

After that, the narrow streets of Monte Carlo still claimed the victim. Carlos Sainz crashed into a guard near the famous indoor swimming pool and lost control of his Ferrari. He thus triggered the third red flag of the day, after there had already been two in FP1.

At Red Bull Racing they will be delighted with Verstappen’s P1 in the second hour of practice. The Dutchman complain frequently earlier in the day over the radio, but seemed to have found a solution with the team between sessions. RB19 performed better and that resulted in 1.12.462.

However, the difference with Ferrari in particular was small: 65 thousand for Charles Leclerc and more than one tenth for the fallen Sainz. Behind that, Fernando Alonso was still going well, before the gap began to widen between Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Pérez, last year’s championship winner.

Max Verstappen in his hometown of Monaco. © ANP

Earlier in the day, Verstappen had set the sixth fastest time in his Red Bull during the first practice session. However, it was broken early because Alexander Albon had hit the wall with his Williams when entering a corner. Despite the accident, Albon was able to take action during the second session. He came in just nine rounds.

Verstappen can win the Monaco Grand Prix for the second time. Last year, Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez was fastest in Monte Carlo. Pérez set the seventh fastest time in the second free practice and conceded 0.529 to Verstappen.

Nyck de Vries, for his part, could not beat his teammate’s time. Yuki Tsunoda was two hundredths faster than the Frisian, who is hoping for his first World Cup action this year in his hometown of Monaco.

A good starting position is important for this and he can get it tomorrow, when qualifying starts at 4am. The race is Sunday at 3 p.m.

Max Verstappen. © ANP

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