Leclerc edges Hamilton in Monaco FP2 as Verstappen 'bounces like a kangaroo'

Charles Leclerc set a blistering pace in Monaco Grand Prix Free Practice 2, edging out Lewis Hamilton for the fastest time at his home race.

A 1:11.278 was enough for Leclerc to top the second Friday session from FP1 pace-setter Hamilton, as the Monegasque dipped under the 1:11.365 pole-time from the 2023 race. 

Fernando Alonso took third for Aston Martin as Red Bull and Max Verstappen struggled, with the world champion complaining that the bouncing he was suffering was like a "Kangaroo" and leaving him with headaches.

He did however take fourth as team-mate Sergio Perez was only eighth, also struggling with vibrations in a session that did not feature a red flag, but plenty of minor wall-strikes.

With the threat of rain in the air, Hamilton was the first driver out of the pits on the medium tyres, with Leclerc as Verstappen took hards aboard his RB20. 

The Dutchman set the pace early on with a 1:13.775 on his C3 tyres, as Hamilton and Leclerc then traded fastest laps on their C4 yellow-marked medium rubber.

The 2025 Ferrari team-mates whittled the benchmark down from a 1:13.309 from Hamilton to a 1:11.573 from Leclerc, but was almost a second clear of Hamilton in P2 and 1.150s up on Verstappen in third as he complained of "jumping like a kangaroo, man. I'm getting headaches, it's crazy."

After these initial runs, the field then pitted to switch to the C5 soft tyres for the qualifying simulations - as Perez described the violent nature of the bumps as "horrendous" as he clipped the Massanet wall. 

On his first soft tyre lying lap, Leclerc shaved 0.295s off his fastest time and posted the 1:11.278 that would see him top the session. 

On a second attempt, he was purple through Sector 1, but ran slightly wide at Portier and abandoned the lap before entering the blast through the tunnel. Leclerc also caused a brief yellow flag in the closing stages after running wide and turning around at Sainte Devote.

Hamilton also aborted his first lap on the soft tyres, but rebounded with a series of personal bests through each of the three sectors to end 0.188s adrift on what was an encouraging day for the three-time Monaco winner.

Alonso took third for Aston Martin, ahead of Verstappen, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and George Russell.

The second Mercedes of Russell complained of severe braking vibrations at the sea-front chicane as he took 10th.

Piastri does not get a soft tyre run

Yuki Tsunoda was 11th for RB, as Oscar Piastri did not get a chance at a soft tyre run after hitting the wall, with the two the first driver to clock a time one second down on Leclerc - 1.071s down in Tsunoda's case.

Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg sandwiched Esteban Ocon in a Haas sandwich in 13-14-15 as 2018 Monaco winner Daniel Ricciardo was 16th, 1.299s down on Leclerc and two-tenths slower than Tsunoda - but also on the medium tyres.

Pierre Gasly, who missed most of FP1 with a wastegate problem on his Alpine's power unit returned to the track and took 17th, ahead of Logan Sargeant, who clipped the inside wall at Anthony Noghes early on. 

The two Stake drivers were 19th and 20th in the times with Valtteri Bottas 1.779s down on Leclerc in 19th and Zhou Guanyu some 2.495s off the pace - both drivers having used the medium tyres.