Monaco GP: Vettel flies in FP2 as Mercedes struggles

Vettel clocked the fastest ever lap at Monaco with a 1m12.720s to finish 0.487 seconds clear of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

Hamilton and Bottas could not replicate the pace shown in first practice and ended the session eighth and 10th respectively.

The duo started the session on supersofts, but failed to trouble the top of the timesheets when they bolted on the ultrasofts.

Practice was red-flagged with 36 minutes to go when Lance Stroll crashed at Casino Square.

The Williams driver, who was 16th fastest, lost the rear at the top of the hill before sliding into the barrier.

FP2 was a scrappier session, with Esteban Ocon hitting the barrier at the downhill right-hander before Portier.

Marcus Ericsson, who failed to complete a lap time in FP1 because of a gearbox problem, nudged the barrier at Casino Square, forcing him to pit.

It was the Toro Rossos that set the early pace, Daniil Kvyat using the ultrasoft for the first time on Thursday to clock a 1m14.031s.

Ricciardo then went quickest on the ultrasofts before Vettel usurped him with his first qualifying-simulation run.

Kimi Raikkonen ended up third fastest, just over half-a-second off the pace, with Kvyat just half a tenth further back.

The other Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz was fifth to underline the outfit's pace on the streets of Monte Carlo, ahead of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen and Bottas completed the top 10.

McLaren returnee Jenson Button had another solid session, the Briton clocking the 12th quickest time to finish just 0.035s adrift of teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

It was more frustrating for Renault, with Nico Hulkenberg ended the session 17th quickest, having failed to set a time in FP1.

His teammate Jolyon Palmer pulled off track at Portier early in the session with smoke pouring from the rear of his Renault. He completed just eight laps.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	37	1'12.720
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	34	1'13.207	0.487
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	45	1'13.283	0.563
4	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	40	1'13.331	0.611
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	42	1'13.400	0.680
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	35	1'13.486	0.766
7	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	44	1'13.799	1.079
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	30	1'13.873	1.153
9	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	45	1'13.890	1.170
10	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	38	1'13.902	1.182
11	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	41	1'13.946	1.226
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	36	1'13.981	1.261
13	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	45	1'14.003	1.283
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	43	1'14.022	1.302
15	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	46	1'14.093	1.373
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	27	1'14.474	1.754
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	40	1'14.870	2.150
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	8	1'15.616	2.896
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	31	1'15.691	2.971
20	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	36	1'15.695	2.975