Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominated Friday Practice at 2022 Monaco Grand Prix.
Having lost the championship lead in Spain after he suffered a power unit failure, Leclerc came into his home race weekend with an immediate response as he topped both Friday Practice sessions.
Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz meanwhile both finished second in FP1 and FP2 respectively with 0.039 seconds and 0.044s gaps to Leclerc who looks favourite to clinch a second consecutive pole position around the Principality.
Now here is a full roundup of all the action across FP1 and FP2.
FP1
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was first out on track but it was McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who set the benchmark pace with 1m 20.364, only to be displaced by Leclerc and Sainz before regaining top spot with 1m 17.123 in the seventh minute.
Verstappen then posted 1m 16.582 a minute later only to be displaced by Leclerc who went 0.425 seconds quicker, with the Monegasque then briefly displaced by Sainz but immediately fought back as he posted 1m 15.883 to be the first driver to go below the 76 seconds barrier.
Leclerc then found 0.169s on his next flier to go even faster only for Verstappen to go top seconds later with 1m 15.327 just as Leclerc locked up at Sainte Devote, with Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez also repeating his error themselves later in the session.
Mick Schumacher’s session meanwhile came to an unexpected end after just 20 minutes as he grinded to a halt at Rascasse, which caused a five minute red flag as marshals removed his car and briefly closed the pit entry for safety reasons.
Lewis Hamilton meanwhile struggled with porpoising throughout the session but briefly went second behind Verstappen on the half-hour mark.
Lando Norris then went top with 1m 15.301 in the 31st minute before lowering his benchmark time to 1m 15.056 with only Gasly getting within 0.027s of Norris’ effort ahead of Qualifying simulations.
Eventually, Leclerc emerged quickest with 1m 14.531 ahead of Perez and Sainz as the top three were split by 0.070s, with Verstappen, Norris, Gasly, Ricciardo, George Russell, Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton rounding out the top ten.
Everyone set their fastest laps on the medium tyres except for Vettel, Albon and Latifi who set their fastest laps on the soft tyres and finished ninth, 15 and 18th respectively, whilst Schumacher only managed a hard tyre run before his stoppage.
Valtteri Bottas meanwhile failed to set a lap time due to gearbox issues which kept him out for much of the session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 14.531 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.039 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.070 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.181 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.525 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.552 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.626 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.680 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.856 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.968 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.005 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.008 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.218 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.275 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.579 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.784 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.886 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 3.183 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 4.105 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | No Time Set |
FP2
Williams’ Albon and Latifi led a queue of cars out onto track as soon as the pit exit light went green with Albon setting the early benchmark lap time of 1m 18.066, which was swiftly displaced by Perez who posted 1m 16.176 with Hamilton going 0.024s slower in second.
Verstappen on his second flier went top with 1m 14.915 on medium tyres as everyone conducted their opening stints on medium tyres, except for Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz who were running on hard tyres.
Sainz displaced Verstappen in the ninth minute but Perez went even faster to post 1m 14.001 which left him top when the red flag came out in the 15th minute, after Daniel Ricciardo crashed through the Swimming Pool chicane following a loss of control of his rear-end.
The session resumed nine minutes later with Alfa Romeo’s Bottas and Guanyu Zhou leading the field out on track on medium tyres, whilst several drivers opted for Qualifying simulations on the soft tyres.
Alonso was the first driver to go top on soft tyres with 1m 13.912 but was swiftly beaten by Perez who went 0.588s quicker, only for Leclerc to go top with 1m 13.125 moments later.
Eventually come the checkered flag, Leclerc finished fastest with an eventual benchmark time of 1m 12.656 heading into Saturday, with Sainz 0.044s behind in second for an Ferrari one-two finish in FP2.
Perez, Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Gasly, Alonso, Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Hamilton, who could only finish a lowly 12th fastest.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 12.656 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.044 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.379 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.447 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.638 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.750 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.980 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.256 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.403 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.478 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.583 |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.611 |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.812 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.830 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.869 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.967 |
| 17 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.238 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 2.560 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 3.620 |
| 20 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | No Time Set |
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