Lewis Hamilton was fastest in a busy first practice ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, the seven-time champion set a 12.169 putting himself three hundredths faster than Oscar Piastri. Mercedes look at this very early stage of the weekend to be in the mix with George Russell third a tenth behind Piastri.
The FP1 session around the streets of Monte Carlo was relevantly trouble-free, Hamilton setting his fastest time just before the only red flag. Hamilton, who said he was hopeful of a more competitive weekend from Mercedes, went to the top then remained there, once the debris from Guanyu Zhou making contact with the wall at Sainte Devote had been cleared.
Lando Norris continued to show that McLaren has pace he was third a tenth and a quarter behind Hamilton, that was despite being on the theoretically faster tyre, with Russell managing to split the McLarens as he went a tenth faster than his fellow Englishman. Charles Leclerc was fifth the Monacan just a thousandth behind Norris.
Ferrari, the team many consider to be favourites for victory in Monaco, also chose to save their soft tyres for later in the weekend but had Leclerc in fifth with an impressive lap on the medium compound, while Carlos Sainz was tenth.
Fernando Alonso was sixth behind Leclerc by nearly four-tenths and a hundredth and a half faster than his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll. The team looking at an early stage in the weekend to be decent around the streets of Monte Carlo. Yuki Tsunoda was also faster than his RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo. With Sainz completed the top ten, five hundredths behind
Max Verstappen was eleventh missing out on the top ten by three hundredths and was two tenths faster than his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez. Red Bull may have looked dominant this season, but last weekend were under pressure for the win and at the previous two street circuits have were beaten by Ferrari and McLaren.
Verstappen found that his RB20 was on a “knife edge” in those opening runs – replays showing him getting perilously close to the barriers at the exit of Sainte Devote, Tabac and the Swimming Pool complex.
Also, complained about his car being “so loose over the bumps”, and did not do a run on the soft tyres which most of those in front of him did. But he was comfortably faster than teammate Perez, while they should close the gap the question is by how much.
The strategy is key in Monte Carlo and that was clear with the tyre usage in practice making reading the sessions more difficult to read. Valtteri Bottas was thirteenth the Sauber driver two hundredths behind Perez, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon.
Albon spilt the Haas’s with him going a tenth and a half faster than Nico Hulkenberg while Logan Sargeant was six-tenths behind. Esteban Ocon was eighteenth ahead Zhou by half a second and ahead of the second Alpine of Pierre Gasly.
Zhou got out of shape on his way out of the first corner and slid into the barrier, damaging the left side of his front wing. The incident left a significant amount of debris on track, which Leclerc would run over, prompting the race director to throw a red flag to prevent any further damage being caused.
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