Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Lewis Hamilton fastest in first session of the weekend

The very first session of this Grand Prix weekend in Monaco is underway. The sky was relatively clear over the Principality this morning but is now overcast with a 40% chance of rain. All eyes are on Red Bull and McLaren, with the Woking team showing particular strength in recent races. Although we will have to wait for Saturday’s qualifying session to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the cars on the streets of Monaco, these Free Practice 1 sessions could already provide an interesting start – and leave no room for error.

Cars are in the pitlane as soon as the green light comes on and waste no time to start on the track. **Oscar Piastri sets the first time in 1:18.002, on medium tires**. Charles Leclerc, on hard tires, is at 1:18.686. All the drivers are on hard tires except for Piastri and Max Verstappen. Hamilton sets the fastest time in 1:16.057, but the times are changing a lot. The Monegasque quickly takes the lead, followed by the Dutchman. Hamilton is very fast in the first sector, Lando Norris in the second, and Verstappen in the third. Norris sets the best time at 1:15.294, a good sign for the start of the weekend. **Hamilton locked up the tires at the exit of the tunnel and missed the chicane**, causing him to lose time. We will need to pay attention to this area during qualifying and the race. Carlos Sainz soon follows suit.

Concerns about Pierre Gasly’s Alpine

Oscar Piastri falls under 1:15 seconds, followed by Charles Leclerc, with 1:14.521. He is very quick in sector 2, a strength of the McLaren, it seems. The drivers are improving their lap times and Verstappen thus sets the fastest lap, at 1:13.974, just a whisker away from Leclerc. On his side, Pierre Gasly has an engine issue on his Alpine, precious track time lost. He goes back out but then complains of a lack of power and is called back to the pits. Another setback for the French team, which has a lot of work to do…

A few seconds later, Max Verstappen touches the wall, but it’s only the plastic flexible protection. It will be necessary to remain cautious throughout the track. He remains the fastest in the final sector.

After 15 minutes of driving, Sergio Perez goes out on the track. Lando Norris drops the time to 1:13.934, 0.040 faster than Verstappen… Just before Leclerc does 0.591 better, a giant step compared to the rest of the grid. He is followed by his teammate Carlos Sainz, 0.375 behind. Esteban Ocon, 17th, complains about the front of the car, which he feels pitches a lot.

The performance of soft tires

Verstappen, very close to the walls, especially at turn 12, indicates that his car is (at) the limit (edge). Meanwhile, Alex Albon goes straight at Sainte-Dévote. Oscar Piastri, who switched to soft tires, is not faster than the cars on mediums, which is interesting for the tire strategy this weekend. He is in 6th place, while Lando Norris has dropped to 9th place. When returning to the pit, Sergio Perez oddly hit the protection on the side.

George Russell then surprises everyone, on soft tires, in 1:12.295. He is the fastest in all three sectors, and is then followed by Oscar Piastri, still on soft tires. The red tires finally reveal their potential. Lewis Hamilton then takes the second best time and is the fastest in the third sector, also on soft tires. Then Piastri improves and sets the best time, at 1:12.198. But he is very close to the walls.

Piastri and Hamilton then chain together good laps, until the British driver shows to be faster than the Australian, with a time of 1:12.169 only. Norris moves up to fourth place, behind George Russell. We are only 15 minutes away from the end when Guanyu Zhou hits the wall and leaves bits of the wing on the track. The red flag is then waved. Leclerc informs his team that he hit some carbon debris, his team will check the floor.

The single-seaters come out when there are only 10 minutes left in these FP1 and drops start to fall on the track. We learn that Valtteri Bottas will receive a fine of 1000 euros for speeding in the pit lane. An incident was noted in the pit lane between Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda. The Dane will probably receive a penalty for an unsafe release. Then the sun makes its return and chases away the rain, while Gasly finally goes back out on track to try to gain some track time and at least complete a lap. Verstappen, 11th, complains to Red Bull about an incident with Ocon, which is noted by the stewards, while Perez is just behind him. The Austrian team does not seem comfortable. This will finally be it for this first session of the weekend.

Practice Session 1 Ranking at the Monaco Grand Prix