Daniel Ricciardo maintained his place at the top of the timesheets in second practice at the Monaco GP, setting a new lap record in the process.
Opting to complete a second series of qualifying-style laps after he and many drivers had struggled with traffic initially, the Australian still found enough grip in his used set of Hypersoft tyres to set a 1m11.841s, the first time any driver had gone sub 1m12 around the streets of Monte Carlo.
Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen had also gone faster than Kimi Raikkonen’s pole time from 12 months ago with his low fuel run on the new Pirelli compound but eventually finished almost two-tenths back from Ricciardo in third.
It was a pretty eventful day for the Dutchman, who escaped punishment by the stewards after being investigated for reversing back into the middle of the track at Sainte Devote in the morning and would narrowly avoid substantial contact with Romain Grosjean rounding the Loews hairpin when trying to let the Haas by.
As it is, the two Red Bull drivers can reflect on a job well done with Sebastian Vettel the nearest challenger but almost six-tenths down on Ricciardo in third for Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton gave Mercedes reason for optimism by almost matching his main championship rival in fourth with the two Finns, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, completing the top six.
Despite a mid-session red flag caused by a loose drain cover on the approach to Mirabeau, the final half an hour was still given to race simulations and once again it was the RB14’s who shone.
The main reason was their ability to look after the Hypersoft tyre which, on the Ferrari and Mercedes, was graining on the low grip tarmac and also suffering from some degradation, perhaps pointing to a possible two-stop race for some.
In the midfield, a tight battle between McLaren and Renault is emerging as their four drivers filled the final places inside the top 10.
Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Stoffel Vandoorne and Carlos Sainz were all covered just over a tenth-and-a-half, which represented a good step forward for McLaren after only finished 15th and 17th in the morning.
Toro Rosso look like possible spoilers to the party with Brendon Hartley in 11th but otherwise, a secondary midfield group including the junior Red Bull team, Force India and Haas appears likely, as the American team is surprisingly slow on the streets of the Principality.
Sergey Sirotkin and Charles Leclerc put in strong performances for Williams and Sauber respectively, holding a substantial advantage over their teammates who brought up the field.
The full results from the second practice session can be seen below.
