Monaco GP 2018

MAY 24, 2018

Practice 2 Report - The Untouchables

Daniel Ricciardo, Monaco GP 2018
© The Cahier Archive

By Dan Knutson in Monaco

The Red Bull drivers remained untouchable in Free Practice 2 for the Monaco Grand Prix just as they had been in FP1. In both sessions Daniel Ricciardo was marginally quicker than teammate Max Verstappen.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari - Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen; Red Bull TAG Heuer - Ricciardo and Verstappen; Force India Mercedes - Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon; Williams Mercedes -Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin; Renault - Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz; Toro Rosso Honda - Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly; Haas Ferrari - Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; McLaren Renault - Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne; Sauber Ferrari - Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc.

Ricciardo went quickest in FP1, clocking a 1:12.126 on the new Pirelli hyper soft tires.

"I always get excited for this one," he said of Monaco before practice began. "Obviously I am excited at the thought of doing very well. Thursday practices don't always excite me that much but walking over to the pit lane I will just be like a school kid. It will be good fun."

Out first were the Haas and Sauber boys, but the Red Bull and Mercedes boys stayed in garages for a while.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Centigrade).

Vettel wasn't staying put, and he put the Ferrari on top early on with a time of 1:13.180.

The Toro Rosso drivers were up there as well, with Hartley second and Gasly third 15 minutes into the session. But then Verstappen grabbed the top spot with a time of 1:12.468 followed by a 1:12.267 and an (unofficial) record 1:12.071 using the hyper soft tires.

Pirelli's other two compounds for the weekend were the ultra soft and the super soft.

The red flags came out 24 minutes into the session. Track repair was required between Turns 4 and 5 - Casino and Mirabeau. A drain cover had come loose. While the session was suspended, the clock continued to count down.

At the time the top 10 were: Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Bottas, Hartley, Gasly, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso and Hulkenberg.

After the repairs were completed, the session was restarted with 50 minutes remaining. The top 10 immediately started to switch around including Raikkonen jumping to second, only to be replaced by Ricciardo who in turned was replaced by Vettel.

The lapping continued and Ricciardo returned to second. But Verstappen, now down to a 1:12.035, remained untouchable in first, 0.384 of a second ahead of his teammate.

Vettel then returned to second place, 0.378 of a second off Verstappen.

A few drivers complained about traffic spoiling their laps. But Ricciardo got in a clear run to post a 1:12.053, a mere 0.018 of a second off of Verstappen.

On his next attempt Ricciardo slammed in a 1:11.841.

Meanwhile, other drivers were doing long runs on their used hyper soft tires.

The top 10 at the end of FP2 were the untouchable Ricciardo and Verstappen followed by Vettel, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Vandoorne, Alonso and Sainz.