Monaco GP – Free Practice 2: Alonso Doesn’t Spare His Steed

Before the start of the second free practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix, the track temperature is 45°C, and the first drivers to head out are the Virgin drivers.

The mechanics at Mercedes are still working on Michael Schumacher’s single-seater, following his exit during Free Practice 1. A similar scene is unfolding in the HRT garage, on Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car. Mark Webber, for his part, is one of the first to set off to make up for the lost time due to the problems encountered with his RB7 in the morning.

Timo Glock is the first driver to set a time of 1:23.036. While Maldonado goes straight at Sainte Dévote, Petrov significantly improves the best time to 1:18.471. However, this time doesn’t withstand the assaults of Felipe Massa with 1:17.483, as Mark Webber continues to lap.

Jaime Alguersuari crashes into the tire wall at Sainte-Dévote and has to change his front wing. But the most intense moment is yet to come, between the two Ferrari drivers: Alonso, on a fast lap, almost crashes into his teammate at Rascasse, as the Brazilian had slowed down to have a clear lap. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg finishes his fast lap in 1:16.917.

Alonso improves in turn and sets the fastest time of the day at 1:16.408 while Lewis Hamilton, 8th, sets the fastest time in the first sector but encounters an HRT on his path.

Maldonado is the first to fit the super soft tires and takes the 7th fastest time on his first lap. It’s the first time Pirelli brings the red-sided tires to a Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher finally starts his session and sets an initial time of 1:24.251 before improving on the next lap: 1:20.610.

After half an hour of trials, Alonso holds the best time and is attacking on every corner. The Spaniard is ahead of Rosberg, Button, Hamilton, Massa, Petrov, Buemi, Maldonado, Heidfeld, and Webber, who seems to be plagued by KERS problems. His teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who completed an 18-lap stint with a best time of 1:19.046, is in 14th place.

With the super soft tires, Kamui Kobayashi does not improve while most teams are in race conditions. Meanwhile, it’s the end of the session for Paul di Resta: the Scot is pushed into the escape road at the tunnel exit, with smoking brake ducts.

Sebastian Vettel also switches to red-walled tires just like Felipe Massa. Sebastian Vettel is the first to go under the 1:16 mark, with a time of 1:15.739. Felipe Massa improves in the first two sectors but comes close to disaster at the exit of Anthony Noghès: 3rd fastest time.

Fernando Alonso succeeds where his teammate fails: 1:15.123. The Spaniard is pushing the limits everywhere. Jenson Button improves his time and position: he is 2nd. But Rosberg soon takes over the runner-up spot with 1:15.321.

With the soft tires, drivers alternate between fast laps and slower laps. Moreover, for his first stint with these tires, Michael Schumacher moves up from 21st to 6th place after a lap in 1:16.603.

Half an hour before the checkered flag, Fernando Alonso is still firmly at the top of the timesheet with his time of 1:15.123, ahead of Rosberg, Button, Vettel, Massa, Schumacher, Webber, Hamilton, Sutil, and Heidfeld.

After this series of fast laps, the drivers are now trying the super soft tires with a full tank of fuel. Indeed, the drivers qualified in Q3 will have to keep their qualifying tires for the first stint of the race.

Lewis Hamilton improves his lap time and is the fastest in the first and third sectors, positioning himself between Alonso’s Ferrari and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.

Small satisfaction for Pirelli: the super soft tires seem more durable than expected, even though Nico Rosberg complains of rapid degradation once the breaking point is reached. All drivers are now on the track, except for those from HRT, and the best ones are regularly lapping above the one minute 18 mark. However, small errors are multiplying with tire degradation. Vitaly Petrov loses his R31 at the tunnel exit but, fortunately, the Russian only loses the front wing.

At the checkered flag, Alonso’s best time remains unbeaten. The Spaniard, whose Ferrari also performed well on hard tires, is ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Meanwhile, the Red Bull drivers focused on the race, as evidenced by Sebastian Vettel’s stint of over 20 laps on soft tires.

Here is the ranking of Free Practice 2 of the Monaco GP: