Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monaco, 2019

Mercedes pair well ahead as leak delays Verstappen

2019 Monaco Grand Prix second practice

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Lewis Hamilton stayed on top in the second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix after exchanging fastest times with his team mate.

Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas swapped places at the top of the times repeatedly, seldom separated by more than a tenth of a second. Although Hamilton skidded down the escape road at Sainte Devote at one point he recovered to set the quickest time of the session.

Max Verstappen, who split the pair in first practice, lost a lot of time in the pits as Red Bull repaired a water leak on his car. Once he was able to rejoin the track Verstappen reported poor grip from his RB15, and ended the session almost a full second off the pace-setters.

The closest driver to the two Mercedes was Sebastian Vettel, though the Ferrari driver was over three-quarters of a second slower than them. He also flirted with the barrier at Sainte Devote, coming to a stop at the exit of the corner and reversing his way out of trouble.

Team mate Charles Leclerc was not at all happy with his SF90. The gap between the pair was less than half a second, but with the midfield so close it left Leclerc at the foot of the top 10.

Alexander Albon put in a good showing for Toro Rosso, heading the times early on and ending the session in fifth place between the Red Bulls. The two Alfa Romeos also appeared in the top 10 behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

At McLaren, Carlos Sainz Jnr was able to turn his first laps of the weekend after new Control Electronics were fitted to his car. It was Lando Norris’s turn to encounter problems, suffering damage which prompted the team to change his floor.

Three cars were far off the pace of the rest of the field: The Williams pair and Lance Stroll’s Racing Point, the latter aggravating George Russell and Daniel Ricciardo during the course of the session by failing to get out of their way.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’11.11840
277Valtteri BottasMercedes1’11.1990.08147
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1’11.8810.76341
410Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’11.9380.82038
523Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’12.0310.91350
633Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’12.0520.93416
720Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’12.1741.05653
899Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’12.2391.12150
97Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’12.3421.22450
1016Charles LeclercFerrari1’12.3501.23241
118Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’12.3921.27450
124Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’12.3931.27526
1355Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’12.4191.30146
1426Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’12.5771.45938
1511Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’12.7521.63443
1627Nico HulkenbergRenault1’12.8721.75448
173Daniel RicciardoRenault1’12.8881.77052
1818Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’14.5583.44039
1963George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’15.0523.93436
2088Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’15.1464.02844

Second practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’11.118

+0.081 Valtteri Bottas – 1’11.199

+0.763 Sebastian Vettel – 1’11.881

+0.820 Pierre Gasly – 1’11.938

+0.913 Alexander Albon – 1’12.031

+0.934 Max Verstappen – 1’12.052

+1.056 Kevin Magnussen – 1’12.174

+1.121 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’12.239

+1.224 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’12.342

+1.232 Charles Leclerc – 1’12.350

+1.274 Romain Grosjean – 1’12.392

+1.275 Lando Norris – 1’12.393

+1.301 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’12.419

+1.459 Daniil Kvyat – 1’12.577

+1.634 Sergio Perez – 1’12.752

+1.754 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’12.872

+1.770 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’12.888

+3.440 Lance Stroll – 1’14.558

+3.934 George Russell – 1’15.052

+4.028 Robert Kubica – 1’15.146

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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2019 Monaco Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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50 comments on “Mercedes pair well ahead as leak delays Verstappen”

  1. Regular service resumes at Williams?

    1. Just 2 days ago the site had an article titled “Williams unsure if Monaco will reflect car improvements”. I can’t decide if these lap times prove that title right or wrong!

      PS: I would think Stroll is still too young to be reminiscing this hard about his Williams halcyon days. But what do I know, apparently!

    2. I guess the car handles so bad that the drivers never have the opportunity to really feel comfortable enough to have a good go.

      They might also be holding back because a shortage of parts might mean crashing today is the end of their weekend?
      Guess they either go for it in qualifying and crash. Or qualify dead last anyway and end another couple of laps down – if they do make it to the flag.

      1. You make a good point about spares, @bascb, considering Russell has a new floor.

      2. Or qualify dead last anyway and end another couple of laps down

        Think of it this way: at least they get to “tangle” with the Mercedes twice during the race, unlike Ferrari.

        Your point about being cautious, especially in a track like this one, might make sense. The only thing against it would be Stroll’s equally appalling performance, suggesting all three are struggling with something and not just a Williams strategy thing.

        1. Stroll is struggling with being Stroll.

          1. @greenflag I’m sorry, but I can’t agree.
            His name’s Lance Stroll, suggesting being at the tip of the spear should be a cake walk for him. So he was either given a poor car or it was sabotage!

    3. They were never improving, it was just the shorter lap distance of Spain that made it look like they were improving.

    4. Oh well, at least we can say Kubica still has it matching the current F2 champ.

      1. I’M not going to be saying anything like that @Koopa…

  2. Is it too soon to think we may have a sub 70 second pole position?

    1. Leclerc is such a waste of a seat at Ferrari. Ricciardo should be in that seat. I’m still sure Seb blocked any chance of that move…

  3. Another week, another Red Bull problem in FP2… wonder if Horner is still sticking by his opinion that we don’t need 3 practice sessions, just 1?

    1. You answered your own question: the problem is in the second practice session. If they only had 1, there would be no problem and Horner is a genius!

    2. Seeing as Mercedes made a massive step in the second practice session probably yeah

    3. Debris is not something you can avoid on a track like this.

  4. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    23rd May 2019, 15:57

    From Vettel down to Ricciardo it looks potentially great but the enormous gaps between the Mercedes at the front and the Williams (& Stroll?) at the back is just shockingly sad.

    1. @rocketpanda

      We could be in for a great qualifying…from 3rd back.

      I’m going to pretend 3rd is first all weekend.

  5. Nope. 1.10.1

    1. @thedoctor03 Wrong, it’s indeed 1:11.1.

      1. I meant that for quali

      2. @jerejj like I said :)

  6. Would anyone know that Stroll is racing this year if it wasn’t for him getting in people’s way in practice or quali sessions? Maybe it’s just been the past couple of race weekends but it just seems to be constant with him right now.

  7. First time in 4 years I see Mercedes dominated Monaco on FP 1 and FP 2. I think come Q3 they would be miles ahead, not for the party engine mode, but could be the party 4WS mode!

    1. Qualifying should be good fun to watch but I won’t bother with the race as Mercedes is just going to walk it.

  8. wow this lance stroll guy for sure is slow.

    1. He’s just keeping his alma mater company.

    2. It isn’t his fault…. the car isnt good enough. His dad is going to buy Mercedes now.

  9. 7 tenths between Mercedes and Ferrari? That’s huge around Monaco.

    1. Long run pace on both those mercs was even more impressive nearly 2sec faster than Ferraris.

      1. 2 seconds per lap?!!

        1. Mercs were doing around 1.14 while Ferraris were consitently in 1.16 . Lets see how it pans out for race as there are a lot of safety car periods and if Mercs do their Q2 runs on Mediums instead of softs.

  10. Ricciardo must be really happy about switching from RB to Renault.

    1. Well red bull have won the same amount of races as Renault. I’m sure people said the same when Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes.

  11. I’ve started hoping for a Mercedes one-two for all 21 races. This season is done already, so why not watch history?

    1. @f1mre – I’d be interested to see the Canadian GP in a fortnight. Last year, Mercedes were severely adrift, but I think that won’t be the case this year. If they do run well at Canada, I think a season-long streak becomes a real possibility.

      1. But they had one-twos in 2015 and 2017 in Canada. I think if they do it this weekend then their chances are much much better than now.

  12. I can honestly say I’ve not seen this type of domination on all tracks since Williams Renault in 1992. Utterly depressing especially if you look at how close the rest of the field is. What exactly is so great about the Merc, I honestly don’t know. But I do know that I’ve about had it with F1 as a result.

    1. BlackJackFan
      23rd May 2019, 18:59

      Oh, poor dear… lol

    2. They were far from dominant in Bahrain.

      1. If you quit watching now @gitanes, you’ll miss them get beaten. Like all the previous dominant teams.

        And potentially the rules shakeup that allows more teams to have a crack.

        I’m with @f1mre; enjoy watching history. This is what the teams are tasked with, building a strong car and hiring strong drivers. There’s always other stuff to watch further back, but dominance is nothing new.

  13. I’m calling it – Stroll will overdrive and put it in the wall in quali.

  14. Are Williams even going to be allowed to race at that pace deficit?

    I can see it being a complete snooze up front. Mercedes will want to turn the power unit down and bring home a safe 1-2 so who ever leads the first corner will bring it home. They’ll probably stretch a little lead out in the first stint then coast the rest of the way after the pit stop.

    I honestly can’t imagine which circuit they’ll trip over at this year. Sure the car doesn’t have the same advantage their 2014 car does, but the team are leaps and bounds ahead of then operationally. At least we can enjoy an impressive historic display by them.

    Here’s to the next rule change hey? Those always seem to sort out the field right?

    1. The change you’re refering to has been inefficient as a whole – they took all the aero elements of the front wings only to allow teams to implement it in the bargeboard area. If we’re really to see a genuine change, we need a simplification of the engine and a radical cut on the aerodynamics, the latter of which is at least in progress for 2021. Without the simpler PU, the ban on the special engine modes and a well working budget cap, we’re gonna watch a marketing on four wheels which the Mercedes fans generously call “an impressive historic display.”

    2. Eh Bahrain? Ferrari will be fast at Canada, monza, spa and Russia.

      1. @pironitheprovocateur, all we’re ever watching is “marketing on four wheels”…

        I’ve always found it funny when they put advert breaks in sport for this reason.

      2. We expected Ferrari to be fast in China and Baku but Mercedes still stormed those races

        Ferrari have the best power unit but the third best chassis. Mercedes are still favourites for those races now

  15. I expected Kubica to be much slower than Russell here. Even with the difficult car he’s hanging in

  16. At what point are people going to recognise that Albon is showing some real talent on yeh track. He came into the season with hardly any fanfare and to me has so far been as impressive as Verstappen and Leclerc without the raggedness on track that they have shown.

Comments are closed.