FP2: Mercedes dictates the pace on first day in Monaco

Nico Rosberg continued his domination of Monaco practice on Thursday afternoon, ending the second session 0.318s clear of Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

The German, who also topped the times in the morning session, lapped in 1m 14.759s - a second and a half better than he managed this morning thanks to a combination of the track rubbering in and the use of Pirellis supersoft tyres. Hamilton's 1m 15.077s just pipped Fernando Alonso's 1m 15.196s for Ferrari, with Felipe Massa making it a good day for the Scuderia by claiming fourth with 1m 15.278s.

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Red Bull's best was Mark Webber's 1m 15.404s as Sebastian Vettel - whose car was worked on during the session - continued to languish at the bottom half of the top 10 with a ninth-best 1m 16.014s. It remains to be seen whether the Milton Keynes team have been sandbagging.

In between the two RB9s were two Lotuses and Jenson Buttons McLaren. Kimi Raikkonen was sixth with 1m 15.511s, while Romain Grosjean did 1m 15.718s before getting caught out at Ste Devote and clattering his E21 into the wall. The car sustained damaged to its left-hand side, in particular to the front suspension.

The race officials took the opportunity to red flag the session at that point, so that damage to the kerb on the entry to the Swimming Pool section (Turn 13) could be addressed.

Thereafter, most teams focused on longer runs, the only incident being a near miss at Rascasse when Alonso came upon Nico Hulkenberg's slow-running Sauber, slid his Ferrari wide in avoidance and very nearly clipped the outer wall.

Button's 1m 15.959s best left him eighth - albeit still 1.2s off the pace - as Paul di Resta continued to narrowly outrun Force India team mate Adrian Sutil, with 1m 16.046s to the German's 1m 16.349s. Twelfth, behind the duo, was McLarens Sergio Perez on 1m 16.434s.

Hulkenberg was 13th on 1m 16.823s from Pastor Maldonado's Williams on 1m 16.857s and Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez on 1m 16.935s.

Toro Rosso had a less competitive afternoon, with Daniel Ricciardo 16th on 1m 17.145s and team mate Jean-Eric Vergne 17th on 1m 17.184s, while Valtteri Bottas was 18th on 1m 17.264s in the second Williams.

Marussia had the upper hand over Caterham this time, thanks to Jules Bianchi's excellent 1m 17.892s, then came Charles Pic on 1m 18.212s, Max Chiltons 1m 18.784s and Giedo van der Gardes 1m 19.031s. (Formula1.com)