Championship leader Sebastian Vettel surged ahead of his rivals during Thursday’s second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing almost half a second clear.
Vettel, after spending the early phase of the session in the garage, re-grouped after a mistake into the Nouvelle Chicane on his previous lap to register a 1:12.759 on Ultra Softs.
Vettel pressed on, recording a 1:12.720 shortly afterwards, comfortably the quickest ever lap around the current configuration of the circuit.
Vettel’s time was 0.487s clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian able to edge ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, denying Ferrari a 1-2.
Toro Rosso built on its encouraging FP1 pace, in which both Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr. logged competitive times despite running on only the Super Soft tyres.
The pair both switched to Ultra Soft rubber for the second 90-minute session and Kvyat placed fourth, with Sainz Jr. fifth, leaving Max Verstappen in sixth spot for Red Bull, in front of Force India’s Sergio Pérez.
Mercedes led the way in FP1 courtesy of Lewis Hamilton but the Briton was unable to match his earlier time and finished down in eighth, over a second behind Vettel.
Valtteri Bottas, meanwhile, rounded out the top 10, the Mercedes duo split by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
McLaren-Honda finished 11th and 12th, with Stoffel Vandoorne narrowly ahead of returnee Jenson Button, the 2009 World Champion gradually getting up to speed in the MCL32.
Felipe Massa took 13th for Williams, ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, the VF-17 sporting its revised livery, which will be used for the remainder of the season.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon tapped the wall exiting Mirabeau Bas early in the session and was able to continue, though fellow Monaco newcomer Lance Stroll was less fortunate.
The back end of Stroll’s Williams FW40 stepped out through Massenet and he clattered into the barriers, sustaining damage to the right-hand side of the car.
The session was briefly suspended to enable Stroll’s wreckage to be cleared.
Renault’s difficult day continued; Nico Hülkenberg, having completed only three installation laps in FP1 due to investigations surrounding the Energy Store, managed only 17th.
Jolyon Palmer, meanwhile, stopped at Portier with smoke trailing from his Renault R.S.17, ending his session after only eight laps.
Sauber finished at the foot of the timesheets, Marcus Ericsson 0.004s ahead of team-mate Pascal Wehrlein, the former escaping a brush with the wall exiting Casino Square.
