Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of a rain-hit second practice session, the Ferrari driver making the most of a small window of dry-tyre running in the final ten minutes of the session.

Alonso delivered a best lap of 1:18.482 to beat Hamilton by 0.4. Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull Racing ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne who impressed in the changeable conditions.

Prior to the start of the session heavy rain fell across the Principality and with heavy cloud cover over Monaco during the 90 minutes of practice a dry line didn’t form until late in the session and as such teams limited running.

For the first half of the session Valtteri Bottas’ tentative lap remained the only one on the board. But when conditions began to improve late on, drivers began to contemplate taking to the circuit.

And when a dry line appeared Vergne was the first to attempt a lap on dry tyres. Kimi Raikkonen too attempted a lap but the Finn’s progress was slow and he soon limped back to the pits with a problem that prevented any more running. He finished the session at the foot of the timesheet.

In the final minutes, with Vergne settling into fourth, fifth place went to Bottas with the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished in sixth and seventh respectively. Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were eighth and tenth respectively, the McLaren pair split by Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

2014 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Times
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:18.482 
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.901 0.419
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:19.017 0.535
4 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:19.351 0.869
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:19.421 0.939
6 Sergio Perez Force India 1:19.668 1.186
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:19.712 1.230
8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:19.721 1.239
9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:19.779 1.297
10 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:20.230 1.748
11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:20.394 1.912
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:20.622 2.140
13 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:20.811 2.329
14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:20.977 2.495
15 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:21.467 2.985
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:21.700 3.218
17 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:21.924 3.442
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:21.937 3.455
19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:22.683 4.201
20 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.862 4.380
21 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:23.164 4.682
22 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:45.509 27.027