Sebastian Vettel was fastest in Thursday’s second free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, with a time of 1:12.720. Second in standings was Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), while his Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen was third. Both Ferrari men used one set of Supersofts and one of Ultrasofts. As usual at the Monaco track, the focus on fast lap times took place towards the start of the session, while the final runs were dedicated to race simulation work.
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were eighth and tenth.
“I don’t know what happened to them today, it was a bit weird, but I’m pretty sure there is a reason and they will be back to full force on Saturday”, Sebastian Vettel commented. “It will be close, also with the Red Bulls.”
“Around here it’s also important to have a good feel for the car, to get the lap together, so you cannot always go with the one time you set at the end of the day. But surely we managed to put it together and we’re quite happy.”
Ferrari has not won the Monaco Grand Prix since 2001.
Sebastian Vettel commented. “It will be close, also with the Red Bulls”
Meanwhile the Mercedes drivers explained that their bad performance was due to taking a wrong direction with the set-up.
“Practice two was difficult and we struggled with the pace over one lap”, Valtteri Bottas said. “We made some changes between practice one and practice two but we clearly went in the wrong direction – that’s why both of us were struggling. When the car isn’t quite right you lose a lot of time in Monaco.”
“We tried to go back with the set-up and it felt better. But by that point we’d already put a lot of laps into the tyres. At least we’ve learned what not to do with the set-up here.”
Hamilton said that the difference between FP1 and FP2 was “night and day”.
“Practice one was actually really good and we were quickest. But then in second practice we just struggled to extract the grip from the tyres and we were sliding around a lot. I’m not sure why the tyres weren’t working”, the Englishman added.
“Ferrari are very quick again and Red Bull are also looking good this weekend, we’re looking forward to a real fight on Saturday.”
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP2)@ToroRossoSpy on form in Monaco as Vettel tops the pile and Mercedes struggle#MonacoGP #FP2 ?? pic.twitter.com/0tr6LmyEbD
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 25, 2017
