FP1: Leclerc leads Verstappen and Norris in first Monaco GP practice after early collision with Stroll

Home favourite Charles Leclerc set the pace during Friday’s opening practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, bouncing back from an early clash with Lance Stroll to lead the way over Red Bull rival Max Verstappen and McLaren racer Lando Norris.

With the sun shining down and yachts filling the harbour, the Principality looked resplendent as Formula 1’s 10 teams and 20 drivers gathered for an initial hour-long hit of running around some of the most famous streets in motorsport.

AS IT HAPPENED: All the action from first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix

Unsurprisingly, plenty of cars were quick to head out at 1330 local time to get a feel for the track conditions – a combination of Pirelli’s soft C6, medium C5 and hard C4 tyres being used across the early installation laps and short runs.

There was some drama only a couple of minutes in when Leclerc locked up and went deep at Mirabeau Haute, but he managed to avoid any damage, reverse his Ferrari out of the run-off area and continue on his way.

Leclerc would not be so fortunate a few moments later, though, when he ran into the back of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin – which had moved aside for another car before coming back onto the racing line – under braking for the hairpin.

“Come on… I don’t think he was aware about the blue flags,” Leclerc sighed over the radio. Stroll confirmed that when he told his engineer “I didn’t hear you” ahead of the impact. Given Leclerc’s front wing damage, the red flag was thrown to clear the debris.

When the session resumed, with Stroll sidelined due to his broken rear suspension and a gearbox change, drivers picked up where they left off and began to push a little harder – Norris holding the P1 time of 1m 12.290s (on softs) at the halfway mark over Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri.

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There was also a sign of things to come in Qualifying – particularly Q1 – as drivers squabbled for track position, leaving Pierre Gasly frustrated by some slow-moving cars at the Nouvelle Chicane and Verstappen fuming after he was forced to bail out of a lap.

While Leclerc improved again to eclipse Norris’ benchmark and move into the 1m11s bracket, an exasperated radio message – claiming “we are nowhere” in terms of car balance – implied that there is still plenty of work to do at Ferrari.

Several lock-ups, barrier scrapes and close calls followed over the final third of the session, with Hamilton narrowly avoiding traffic at Massenet and then flying over the kerbs at Turn 15/16, and Piastri returning to the pits for inspections after an apparent brush of the wall.

Leclerc remained quickest with his 1m 11.964s effort when the chequered flag dropped, a tenth clear of nearest rival Verstappen, as Norris, the high-flying Williams of Alex Albon, championship leader Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top six.

Carlos Sainz backed up team mate Albon in seventh position, followed by the lead Alpine of Gasly, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who was Aston Martin’s sole driver for the majority of the session following Stroll’s early clash with Leclerc.

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Kimi Antonelli was the fastest rookie of FP1 in 11th, putting his Mercedes just ahead of Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the other Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who lamented traffic during his final runs.

Haas duo Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon were next up in P15 and P16 respectively, as Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber), F1 returnee Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and the aforementioned Stroll rounded out the order.

Drivers and teams will now regroup in the Monte Carlo paddock, dig through the data and ponder set-up changes before returning to action in Free Practice 2, which is scheduled to begin at 1700 local time and again run for an hour.

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