Charles Leclerc heads Ferrari 1-2 in first Monaco GP F1 practice as Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso crash
Charles Leclerc led the way for Ferrari in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc set the pace ahead of Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton as Ferrari made an impressive start to the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
Leclerc, who heads into his home F1 race having signed a fresh contract extension with Ferrari, produced a 1m13.978s on medium tyres to end up 0.226 seconds clear of his seven-time world champion team-mate Hamilton in a Scuderia one-two.
It marks an encouraging start to the weekend for Ferrari, with the Italian team branded as favourites to cause an upset by many of its rivals due to the SF-26’s strengths in low-speed corners, which largely make up the iconic and incredibly technical Monte Carlo Street Circuit.
Despite spending most of opening practice complaining about his Red Bull, Max Verstappen was third-fastest, 0.513s down on Leclerc’s FP1 benchmark.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar was the first driver to hit the wall around the legendary track when the Frenchman’s Red Bull snapped on him at the exit of the Swimming Pool, causing him to slide nose-first into the barriers.
The hard hit destroyed the front wing and caused damage to the front-end of Hadjar’s RB22, as well as ripping off the left-rear wheel. The incident brought out the first red flag of the session with 25 minutes left on the clock.
Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fourth fastest ahead of Mercedes team-mate and title rival George Russell. Antonelli was 0.559s adrift but ended up an alarming half a second clear of Russell in the sister W17.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris was sixth fastest as McLaren struggled for pace, with Norris 1.3s off the pace and team-mate Oscar Piastri a further two tenths back in eighth, with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg splitting them in seventh.
The second Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the rest of the top-10.
Fernando Alonso, who was 20th in the timesheet, also hit the barriers when he lost control of his Aston Martin approaching the Nouvelle Chicane. Subsequent debris from Alonso’s car required a second red flag to be flown.
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