Monaco – Free Practice 2: Hamilton tops a session spoiled by rain

It’s on an ever-fresh track that the drivers take off. Warming up the front tires, especially the super soft tires introduced this afternoon, could therefore prove problematic. Nico Rosberg doesn’t care and starts on soft tires; as expected, he locks his front wheels… at Mirabeau. He sets the first time at 1’21″941. He is quickly beaten by the two Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen.

Romain Grosjean climbs the curb at the Swimming Pool chicane. His Lotus seems unstable. His teammate, Pastor Maldonado, goes straight at Mirabeau: the front soft tires are once again to blame. He is definitely not the only one, as Sebastian Vettel experiences the same mishap, even grazing the barrier with his locked wheel. The drivers are having a hard time with their tire temperatures. If the conditions remain the same on Saturday, it could be one of the keys to qualifying.

The Mercedes return to the track, and the psychological duel between the two Silver Arrows can truly begin. After ten minutes, Lewis Hamilton sets the best reference of the weekend at 1’17’640. Nico Rosberg follows at 292 milliseconds. Hamilton improves further with 1’17’192. Meanwhile, his teammate goes straight at Sainte-Dévote.

After fifteen minutes of the session, the rails claim their first victim: the Manor of Roberto Mehri. The Spanish driver locked his rear wheels at the Piscine chicane and hit the rail on his right. The session is neutralized.

During the break, it starts raining on the Principality! No one is rushing to get back out. And it’s Pastor Maldonado, with the super soft tires fitted for the first time this weekend, who breaks the Monegasque silence. But Lotus made a poor choice: the rain intensifies and the Venezuelan, forced to drive slowly, must return to his garage. Since it’s far from certain that the rain will come back again this weekend, the cars remain in the garages. Scuderia Ferrari confirms this with a tweet: “No point in going out on track.” Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean confirms that Lotus doesn’t have enough spare parts in reserve to take the risk of going out in the rain.

The scene in the garage right now; Monaco in the wet is a big risk if not completely necessary! #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1UCcMtnp2d

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 21 Mai 2015

Before the interruption, the drivers completed an average of 8 laps. Hamilton, at 1’17’192, leads his teammate by 74 hundredths. The two Ferraris follow, more than a second behind the Mercedes cars. Kyvat is in 5th place, closely followed by the two Toro Rossos. Alonso is in the top 10, Grosjean in 14th, but these performances should of course be taken with a grain of salt. Regarding top speeds, at the tunnel exit, Hülkenberg (289.3 km/h) and Hamilton (289.2 km/h) hold the top two spots. There is no Renault engine in this top 10 of peak speeds.

On this Thursday afternoon, the action is not at its peak … The drivers still haven’t come out of their pits. Twenty minutes before the end of the session, the rain stopped, but the track is still wet and isn’t expected to dry quickly. On the microphone for Canal +, Felipe Massa admits his disappointment: “I’m disappointed not to be able to go out, it’s always a track where there is a lot to learn.”

However, fifteen minutes before the end of the session, a few engines finally start to roar. Drivers head out on intermediate tires. Daniel Ricciardo takes the Piscine chicane with extreme caution. Of course, the lap times won’t improve in this final part of the session. Some information is gathered on the wet track, just in case… Jenson Button, on intermediates, complains about a significant lack of grip. Daniil Kyvat brakes too late and goes straight at Sainte-Dévote. To avoid such mishaps, Nico Rosberg even comes out of the garage with one of his three sets of full-wet tires…

At the end of a truncated session, the established times are not truly significant. Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton confirms that he is starting his weekend better than Nico Rosberg, while the Ferraris, Red Bulls, and Toro Rossos are within a few tenths. We will have to wait until Saturday, with the third Free Practice session, to get real clues about the starting grid. Finally, note that Marcus Ericsson did not take part in the session due to an issue with his car.