Ferrari emphatically restated its claim to Monaco supremacy during Friday practice, finishing one-two in both practice sessions and setting the fastest time in all three sectors.
That is good news for Charles Leclerc, but while his excellence at home means he has to remain favourite for pole position, and therefore victory given the supremacy of track position here, today’s running revealed two looming threats.Leclerc’s most immediate danger is closest to home in the form of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who outpaced him by 0.111 seconds in FP2. That could be shrugged off as Leclerc having an untidy session given he was 0.253s off his theoretical best lap judged by best sector times compared to Hamilton, who did string together his personal bests. But there’s more to it than that.
On his first flying lap in FP2, Leclerc locked up and took to the Mirabeau escape road in what proved to be a warning for what was to come. Throughout the session, he complained about the feel of the brakes, with the most telling message zeroing in on the problem.
“The car feels poor, especially the brakes, to be honest,” said Leclerc over the radio. “I don’t know, they feel completely cold at the rear, they don’t feel like they are working properly.”
After the session, he connected the troubles to those he experienced in Canada. There, he struggled in the first half of the weekend in particular and although improvements were made he was never fully at ease.
On his first run in Monaco FP2, he had to build up his confidence on the brakes into Ste Devote, albeit improving to the point where he could eclipse Hamilton on pace on the medium Pirellis. But on the softs, he never looked at home, particularly in the key braking zone into the chicane.
“Unfortunately, it’s been two weekends that I am facing some issues on the brakes and I’m just struggling on my side with the brakes at the moment,” said Leclerc.
“We are trying to find a solution; we haven’t found a solution so far. We’ll keep working on that and trying to make sure that for tomorrow we do a step forward on that. But in FP2 I just lost a little bit of confidence, but we are working on that.”
By comparison, just as in Canada Hamilton was happy, saying “the car felt quite good right from the first laps”. Confidence is king at Monaco, and even if Leclerc’s underlying Monaco brilliance is still in evidence in fits and starts, as the grip ramps up and the barriers are shaved ever-closer if he’s uncertain on the brakes on Saturday that could open the door to Hamilton, who is no slouch on the streets, bagging pole position. And even if Leclerc is content tomorrow, then Hamilton’s recent form suggests he will still be in the hunt.
While the Ferrari, with its strong mechanical performance, smaller and therefore more responsive turbo, a power deficit that doesn’t cost time given the track configuration, and a car that has generally performed well in slow corners in 2026, is the weapon of choice, Max Verstappen’s pace in the Red Bull also caught the eye. He was just 0.168s slower than Hamilton, and while there is a little more potential in the Ferrari the same could be said about the Red Bull.
“I don’t think it’s really an equaliser, but we know it’s a track that suits our speed range,” said Isack Hadjar, who crashed at the second swimming pool chicane in FP1 and was well off Verstappen’s pace in FP2.
“Low-speed circuits so far have been pretty good for us, not so much the high-speed, so it’s definitely good. You can see Max is up there and we have a good opportunity.”
Braking confidence certainly didn’t appear to be a problem for Verstappen, at least not compared to the Ferraris, but the question of whether he could challenge for pole likely depends on whether the car’s ride is good enough.
Kerb and bump riding is key at Monaco, and while the car aerodynamically is working well there’s still a question mark over this. That’s potentially one of the areas Verstappen was thinking of when he spoke of the need to “fine tune”, but overall he was closer to his Miami Grand Prix weekend levels of happiness with the car having struggled in Canada.
As for Mercedes and McLaren, neither looked to have the pace. The lack of full-throttle running means the power advantage of the Mercedes engine is neutered, with the driveability and low-speed performance pushed to the forefront.
“We expected Ferrari to be the guys to beat,” said George Russell. “A lot of people thought that was just chat, but they always seem to be [in Monaco]. And I think Red Bull have also been a bit of a surprise for us.
“We knew out of the races so far this was going to be our most challenging. It’s probably been slightly more challenging than we would have hoped, but we did make some good improvements from FP1 into FP2.
“We need to make the same step again overnight, and I don’t think we nailed it today. So, there is room to improve, but definitely Ferrari are the team.”
The other question mark for Ferrari is the tyres. There were differences in approaches across teams as some, such as Red Bull, could reel off a sequence of quick laps while others, including Ferrari, were at their best with a single push lap then a cooldown.
The optimum strategy for qualifying in terms of getting the tyres in the window will be the cause of head-scratching overnight. That could be another area of concern for Leclerc given Ferrari appears to be finding it a little more difficult than Red Bull to get the tyres exactly where it wants them, meaning outlap management will be key. Given Leclerc had a few gripes over the radio about poor communication regarding traffic and gaps, that might also contribute to his disquiet.
In the midfield group, Audi led the way and showed genuine speed with racing director Allan McNish saying “we’re best of the rest at the moment”. That is testament to the quality of the Audi chassis and confirms the focus on improving driveability has paid off. And while the Audi has what’s reckoned to be the largest, and therefore highest-inertia and least responsive, turbo on the grid, that’s partly mitigated by being able to use MGU-K power without paying the price later in the straights thanks to this being an energy-rich track.
Alpine, Williams, eyecatching Cadillac, Haas and Racing Bulls followed, which should make the battle on the periphery of the top 10 particularly tight, with troubled Aston Martin the slowest after another difficult day.
But it was Ferrari’s day at the front, and the stage is set for Leclerc to deliver what everyone expected by taking pole position.
Whether he’ll have the confidence to do that could depend on the work Ferrari does overnight.