Source : ABC NEWS
Australia’s championship leader Oscar Piastri has gone into the tyre wall nose first at Sainte Devote, but still ended the day second fastest in practice at the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Piastri was 0.038 of a second slower than last year’s winner Charles Leclerc, who thrilled his home fans by setting the pace in both practice sessions.
Leclerc’s fellow Ferrari driver, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, was third fastest across the day.
Having been on pole three times in the last four Monaco races, Leclerc lapped the tight and twisty street circuit with a best time of 1 minute, 11.355 seconds in the late-afternoon sunshine.
He produced a lap of 1:11.964 in the opening practice session, a surprise after neither Ferrari qualified in the top 10 at Imola last weekend.
Piastri, who leads McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 13 points on the championship standings, said it had been a tricky day.
“When we get everything together, the pace is quite good,” said Piastri, who was third in Imola after starting on pole.
“Ferrari look a lot stronger than they have done. But today was more on my side being quite messy.”
Lance Stroll collected a one-place grid drop for Sunday’s race after stewards ruled the Canadian was to blame for a collision with Leclerc.
The session was stopped for debris to be cleared, with Stroll’s Aston Martin requiring repairs to the rear suspension and a gearbox change.
Stewards ruled Stroll had cut across Leclerc’s path, with the Canadian saying he had not heard the team’s warning over the radio.
Leclerc broke his car’s front wing in the incident but returned after a brief red flag period to go 0.163 quicker than Red Bull’s four-time world champion and Imola winner Max Verstappen.
Reuters
