Practice report
Formula 1 Monaco GP
Monaco GP: Ricciardo dominates frantic second practice
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo revealed the potential of the new Renault engine by dominating the second free practice session at Monaco on Thursday.
Charles Bradley
Edited: May 26, 2016, 8:06 PM
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Using the upgraded version of the TAG-badged power unit – unlike his Spanish GP-winning teammate Max Verstappen – Ricciardo lapped in 1m14.607s.
That pace was well over half a second clear of the quickest of the Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton outpacing Nico Rosberg by a further 0.3s.
Verstappen was fourth fastest, almost a second off Ricciardo’s pace, with Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz making it a Red Bull-filled top six in their Toro Rossos.
Ferrari suffered a dismal session, with Kimi Raikkonen seventh and Sebastian Vettel suffering no less than three moments – including a spin and a barrier clout – to end the session ninth.
Story of the session
Rosberg straightlined the Nouvelle Chicane on his first flying lap, but recovered to set the early pace on 1m16.694s on supersoft tyres on his next tour.
Sainz then briefly led the way with 1m16.345s, as Hamilton also had a wild moment under braking at the chicane on his first attempt. But the world champion jumped to the top of the times in 1m15.489s on his second go, also on supersofts.
Ricciardo grabbed the top spot with a lap of 1m15.315s on the ultrasoft tyre after 15 minutes. He then improved on that on his second lap on the same tyres, producing a 1m15.015s.
Verstappen and Kvyat were third and fourth after 30 minutes, with Rosberg languishing down in sixth.
The Mercedes duo bolted on ultrasofts for their second runs, with Rosberg – who slipped down to ninth by now – rocketing back up to third on 1m15.537s. Hamilton went P2 on 1m15.489s, although was forced to abort on lap due to straightlining the chicane.
Hamilton improved to 1m15.213s, but this was his third run on the ultrasoft tyre, so 0.2s was as close as he could get to Ricciardo.
Rosberg also improved marginally on his third flyer, to 1m15.506s.
Ricciardo then raised the bar substantially with 1m14.607s, to end the session 0.606s clear of the Mercs.
Verstappen was 0.244s ahead of the closely-matched Kvyat and Sainz. Raikkonen was less than a tenth clear of Sergio Perez’s Force India, which headed Vettel, McLaren’s Jenson Button and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
Fernando Alonso was 12th fastest, ahead of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas, Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and the second Haas of Romain Grosjean.
Felipe Massa (Williams) and Jolyon Palmer (Renault), who both suffered FP1 shunts, went into FP2 on the back foot. Massa was able to play a full part in this session, which he ended 16th, while Palmer’s car required much more work and only appeared for the final 30 minutes.
Incidents aplenty again
The sequence of accidents in FP1 continued in the afternoon session, with the Virtual Safety Car required just seven minutes into the session due to debris on the approach to the Nouvelle Chicane after Grosjean swiped the barrier both front and rear – but amazingly managed to continue back to the pits.
“The car completely went, I don’t know – I must have a puncture,” he reported.
A second VSC was required after 22 minutes, as Rio Haryanto crashed his Manor heavily on the exit of the tunnel, hitting the barrier on the inside of the chicane after losing control of the rear of his car under braking.
“I’m OK,” he confirmed on the radio. He was only 0.045s slower than Raikkonen at the time, with his car suffering front-end and right-side suspension damage.
Speaking of Ferraris, Vettel spun at Mirabeau just after the halfway point of the session, and was down in 14th at the time: “I spun and damaged the rear wing – get a spare ready,” he reported.
Vettel then clipped the wall at Ste Devote in the final 20 minutes.
The third VSC occurred with 26 minutes remaining, as Kevin Magnussen stuffed his Renault head-on into the wall at the final corner, Anthony Noghes.
More moments at Ste Devote
Ste Devote was another busy place for cars visiting the run-off zone, Sauber's Felipe Nasr setting the ball rolling right from the start of the session.
Rosberg had a huge lock-up there at the end of his first run, while Verstappen snagged a left-front brake and took to the escape route half an hour into the session.
Raikkonen ruined his first ultrasoft run by locking up and being forced into a U-turn, while Button had a moment before Vettel understeered through the apex and whacked the wall with his left-rear near the end of the session.
There was no repeat of the FP1 drain-cover issues.
PosDriverTeamTimeGapLaps 1 
Daniel Ricciardo 
Red Bull Racing 1:14.607 40 2 
Lewis Hamilton 
Mercedes 1:15.213 +0.606 36 3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.506 +0.899 48 4 
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:15.571 +0.964 42 5 
Daniil Kvyat 
Toro Rosso 1:15.815 +1.208 53 6 
Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:15.981 +1.374 54 7 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:16.040 +1.433 38 8 
Sergio Perez 
Force India 1:16.120 +1.513 48 9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:16.269 +1.662 40 10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:16.325 +1.718 46 11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:16.487 +1.880 49 12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:16.723 +2.116 43 13 Esteban Gutierrez 
Haas F1 Team 1:16.782 +2.175 40 14 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:16.849 +2.242 47 15 
Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team 1:16.874 +2.267 23 16 
Felipe Massa Williams 1:17.286 +2.679 42 17 
Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 Team 1:17.530 +2.923 29 18 
Marcus Ericsson 
Sauber 1:17.562 +2.955 39 19 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 Team 1:17.761 +3.154 24 20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:17.999 +3.392 49 21 
Rio Haryanto Manor Racing 1:18.647 +4.040 10 22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing 1:18.814 +4.207 46
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