Ahead of today's second session, the air temperature is 21.8 degrees C, while the track temperature is 50.3 degrees.

Sergio Perez set the pace earlier, and while it took him some time to get up to speed it should be noted that the Mexican's best time was posted on softs, while his teammate, Max Verstappen, who was third quickest, was on mediums.

Splitting the Bulls was Carlos Sainz on a morning of mixed fortunes for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc was sidelined by a gearbox issue after just 4 laps.

Next up was Pierre Gasly ahead of the Mercedes pair.

While there were no serious incidents a number of drivers clipped the barriers at one stage or another, Fernando Alonso bringing out the VSC when he overdid it existing Rascasse.

On this most demanding of circuits it was notable that the more experienced drivers fared better.

As ever, traffic was a significant issue, and that is likely to be the case this afternoon and certainly in the opening phase of qualifying on Saturday.

The lights go green and Sainz leads the way, followed by Raikkonen, Leclerc and Giovinazzi. As more drivers head out, most are on mediums, Sainz the only driver to run hards, the Spaniard having used mostly mediums earlier.

In no time at all, all 20 drivers are on track.

Of the first wave, Norris is quickest, ahead of Bottas, Perez, Vettel and Stroll.

A 14.997 sees Sainz go top.

Quickest in the two final sectors, Verstappen crosses the line at 13.961, as Leclerc goes second with a 14.915. Moments later the Monegasque is demoted when Gasly posts 14.785.

As Perez goes second (14.071), Hamilton makes a mess of the Nouveau Chicane.

Verstappen is visibly pushing it to the absolute limit as he improves to 13.499. Moments later, looking a lot smoother, Hamilton posts exactly the same time.

Norris goes third only to have his time deleted.

Sainz goes third (13.596), ahead of Perez, Bottas, Leclerc and Norris.

Verstappen improves to 13.241, with Hamilton instantly responding with a 12.772.

Quickest in the final sector, Perez goes third with a 33.308.

"I'm struggling with understeer," reports Verstappen, "the fronts are not heating up." Nonetheless, he improves to 12.801.

Consolidating 4th with a 13.024, Sainz is quickest in the final sector.

Quickest in the opening sector, Verstappen clearly struggles at Tabac (Turn 12) and is subsequently told to pit.

Elsewhere, a big, big slide for Leclerc at Rascasse as teammate Sainz goes second with a 12.749.

The Williams pair are first to switch to the softs.

Leclerc reports that his rear-left has "bad graining".

Still on mediums, Hamilton posts a 12.569 to go top, as Bottas is the first of the big guns to switch to softs.

On the red-banded rubber Bottas improves to second with a 12.711, as Hamilton also switches to the softest compound.

Latifi spins at the hairpin, momentarily bringing out the yellows.

Quickest in S1, Hamilton loses time in S2, his cause not helped by a bumpy ride over the kerbs. He subsequently aborts the lap.

No such issues for Bottas however, as he goes top with a 12.107.

From out of nowhere, Giovinazzi goes third with a 12.746. Where did that come from?

Sainz goes top (11.796) after going quickest in the first and final sectors.

A 12.081 sees Verstappen go second, 0.285s off Sainz' pace.

Down in 16th, Ricciardo complains that he is struggling for rear grip. Teammate Norris is currently 13th.

There is a flurry of deleted times as drivers continue to get it wrong at the Nouveau Chicane.

Alonso improves to 11th with a 13.260, one place behind his Alpine teammate.

As Gasly goes quickest in S2, Schumacher almost trips up over Perez who is driving very slowly on the racing line.

Norris goes fifth, ahead of Leclerc and Gasly.

Leclerc goes third (12.093), having posted PBs in all three sectors.

Vettel admits to being "super emotional" as he posts a 12.982 to go tenth.

"I'm trying to cool the rears, but I'm just f****** up my lap," complains Verstappen.

"I think my hand clipped the neutral button," reports Stroll. "That is correct Lance,"
comes the reply.

An 11.684 sees Leclerc go quickest.

As ever, attention shift to Sunday afternoon, as all bar Perez and the Williams pair continue on the softs.

As he continues to struggle, Ricciardo - a winner here in 2018 remember - is given advice by his engineer on how to improve at a number of corners, with particular regards to his braking.

Meanwhile,. Tsunoda's session appears to be over. He clouted the barriers earlier in the session and it appears the damage incurred is more serious than was first thought.

Out come the yellows as Schumacher suffers right-rear suspension damage after losing the rear end and clouting the barriers in Massenet. He slowly makes his way back to the pits, before finally parking up at the Nouveau Chicane, much to the delight of his colleagues.

With 4:40 remaining the session is red-flagged as it is decided that Schumacher's car is still in a precarious position.

Replay reveals the German was told to use "mode punk". We'll leave the interpretation of that one up to you.

As McLaren ask the race director if they will still be allowed to perform practice starts on the grid, race control announces that the session will not restart.

Leclerc is quickest, ahead of Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Norris, Gasly, Perez, Giovinazzi and Vettel.

Raikkonen is eleventh, ahead of Alonso, Stroll, Ocon, Ricciardo, Russell, Latifi, Mazepin, Schumacher and Tsunoda.

Check out our Thursday gallery from Monaco, here.