Monaco FP2: Vettel shows his hand as Mercs fade

Formula 1 world championship points leader Sebastian Vettel looked a good bet for Ferrari's first Monaco Grand Prix victory since 2001 after he set the fastest lap ever around the Armco-lined street circuit during the second free practice on Thursday afternoon.

The four-times world champion topped the time-sheets with a best effort of 1:12.720 seconds in the afternoon FP2 session. Mercedes title rival Lewis Hamilton had been the fastest before lunch. The Ferrari driver was the only one to break into the 72 seconds zone.

Triple world champion Hamilton, six points behind after five races, was only eighth in the second practice with a lap of 1:13.873, more than a second off Vettel's benchmark pace.

The Briton, last year's winner in Monaco, had produced a 1:13.425 effort in the morning to end FP1 quickest of all, when Vettel had to settle for second best.

Hamilton, whose Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas ended the day 10th, is hoping to equal the 65 career pole positions of boyhood idol Ayrton Senna in Saturday's qualifying.

The top six in the afternoon were all inside last year's pole position time of 1:13.622, set by Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo was second fastest in the afternoon, a tad under half a second slower than his former teammate Vettel, in what is a boost for under-performing Red Bull, who have had to watch as Ferrari and Mercedes fight for the race wins this season.

Ferrari's 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat and teammate Carlos Sainz, with Max Verstappen sixth for senior Red Bull team.

Sergio Perez continued to shine in the Force India with the seventh best lap time and surprisingly fastest of the Mercedes powered brigade.

Ninth fastest was Kevin Magnussen in the Haas featuring a new livery, splitting the Mercedes duo on the timings screens at the end of the ninety minutes session.

Under cloudy morning skies, Jenson Button returned to the cockpit as a McLaren stand-in for Fernando Alonso, who is competing at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

The 2009 champion was 14th fastest in the morning and 12th in the afternoon with a time only a fraction slower than teammate Stoffel Vandoorne - a solid performance for a driver who had not been in a Formula 1 car since last November.

He also found that some things never change, complaining over the radio about the driving of others.

The second session was briefly red flagged, with half an hour remaining, when Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, testing the limits on his first Monaco weekend, hit the barriers hard at the entrance to Casino Square. Stroll was not injured.

Britain's Jolyon Palmer also had trouble when his Renault suffered a blown engine.

Michael Schumacher remains the last Ferrari driver to conquer Monaco, whose tight and twisty harbour-side street circuit promises to be an even greater challenge this year with faster and wider cars.

"We need to get into the rhythm and Monte Carlo is a lot about confidence at the end of the day, so you need to trust your car," Vettel said on Wednesday.

"I am confident that we have the tools so it´s up to us to find the right set-up to get into groove and have the confidence. Wider car and wider tyres - it makes the track more narrow I guess."

The first practice at Monaco is always on a Thursday since Friday, the usual day for first running on track at other races, is a rest day.