In the second free practice session at the Monte Carlo circuit, the Monegasque driver was a little less than 0.2 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton. He was also half a second quicker than the nearest Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen, who came fourth.
Red Bull had a hard time getting good performance from its RB20 car, especially dealing with the bumps on the circuit. Meanwhile, Ferrari looked much better after the first day of practice.
Sergio Perez noticed that Ferrari could easily set fast lap times. He said, “Ferrari at the moment are just not reachable. I think they’re really strong and whenever they need the lap, they just seem to put it on really easy, really quick.”
He explained that in Monaco, being able to put in a fast lap easily is a big advantage, and Ferrari seemed to have that advantage.
Mercedes also did well in practice. George Russell said the car felt the best he’d ever felt around Monaco. He believed that the lap records could be broken this year.
But Russell also had some problems. He said, “As soon as I touched the brakes, the whole thing was shaking to bits. So I don’t know what was going on.” He had to end his practice run early to figure out the problem.
He was happy with how the car performed, even though Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was leading the pack. He said, “Definitely today’s been one of our best Fridays, no doubt. The car’s feeling the best I’ve ever felt around around Monaco, so lots of positives.”
