Monaco Grand Prix: Rosberg leads at FP2

He lead FP1. He leads Fp2. Mercedes‘ Nico Rosberg has been in exceptional form off late with his latest exploit coming at Monaco. The German clocked a 1.14.759 to lead the FP2 from team-mate Lewis Hamilton who clocked at 1.15.077.

As predicted earlier in the week, I expected Mercedes to take control of the Monaco Grand Prix. The track needs incredibly high downforce and a really good balance to help the driver in the slow yet sudden changes in directions. Mercedes seemed to have worked on these features quite beautifully and they’re reaping the rewards, now.

The two Ferrari drivers followed the Mercs with Fernando Alonso clocking 1.15.196 followed by Felipe Massa, 1.15.278. The two of them drove incredibly well on the long stints but the surprise of the day has gone in favour of the Mercedes. Known for their quick degradation of tyres, Rosberg was able to push the Super-Softs to 28 laps and Hamilton did the same but only achieved 4 laps more!

This build of the Silver Arrows could very well spur them in their attempt to win another race. Apart from the top 4, the Lotuses looked strong with Kimi Raikkonen bettering Romain Grosjean this time around. The Finn had steering issues early on the session but was able to storm through to it clock a time worthy of 6th place behind a Red Bull of Mark Webber. The Australian stole the limelight from his team-mate, again.

Sebastian Vettel was in the frame but his car doesn’t seem to be up to the mark while compared to the others. He’ll need to put in some exceptional performances to get a podium, which going by the current scenario, seems difficult.

Vettel was caught between a Mclaren and Force India fight. The Mclaren drivers improved their times but by not enough to match the others up the table. Jenson Button came out on top off the two and even beat Vettel to it.

Force India were the dark horses in this race, they have good balance and a great top speed which comes very handy here in Monaco. Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finish 10th and 11th, respectively. They’ve done well nursing those Super-Softs meaning they could try for a single stop race with the Softs.

The Williams looked strong in FP1 but seemed to slump back to their usual place this time around. The rest were…the rest. Not much of improvement and given their times here, no hope in the race.

So far, Mercedes seem to be the ones who can grab pole position on Saturday. They have a good car, a car capable of setting the pace, however, retaining it from the Lotuses and Ferraris might be hard. They’ll have to pit early and counter-attack strongly.

Ferrari seem impressive. They have every chance to pip the Silver Arrows to those podiums but they’ll have it hard. Hamilton is no push-over and Alonso will find it hard passing him.For us to acutely judge how they teams will line up for the qualifying and the race, FP3 should give us a good idea and I’m holding on to my dear opinions till such time.