F1 Monaco GP: Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in…

Charles Leclerc was quickest in opening practice for the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix as Ferrari went 1-2 to back up its pre-weekend hype while Isack Hadjar crashed for Red Bull.

Leclerc set a 1m13.978s at his home circuit, 0.226s faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton after many had picked Ferrari as the Monaco favourite due to the SF-26’s strength in slow-speed corners.

The Scuderia was also the talk of the paddock heading into the weekend for off-track matters, as Leclerc signing a new deal was no doubt the biggest storyline upon arrival to this year’s first European race.

The Monegasque, however, had a moment to forget inside the opening few minutes by locking up into the Turn 5 escape road on his hard tyres, the compound of choice early in FP1.

But it was a very busy early stage, so traffic became a big problem on the tight track, which included a frustrated Haas pair Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman wrecking each other’s laps.

The early pace was nonetheless set by Ferrari with a 1m14.928s for Leclerc, 0.182s quicker than team-mate Hamilton and 0.508s over championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third.

Max Verstappen finished the session in third (Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images)

So, the opening 25 minutes saw dominance from Mercedes and Ferrari with fourth-placed Max Verstappen 0.9s off the pace in his Red Bull, while venting “my tyres are just dead”. That comment came just before the halfway mark, which saw most teams move onto the medium rubber to inevitably cause quicker lap times.

Antonelli was the first to beat Leclerc’s benchmark with a 1m14.537s, 0.471s quicker than team-mate George Russell who moved up to third, but Ferrari was one team to not make the early switch.

Instead, the Scuderia had opted to work on its cars inside the garage and was forced to stay there for a little while longer as Hadjar caused a red flag with 25 minutes remaining.
That happened after the Red Bull driver messed up his turn-in to the Turn 15-16 chicane and slid across the kerbs and into the barrier - his second crash in three weekends after retiring in Miami.

It was a relatively brief red flag though as green conditions returned with 15 minutes left and Ferrari opted to leave its garage on mediums this time, Hamilton consequently taking top spot with a 1m14.204s.

His advantage didn’t last for long though as moments later saw Leclerc become the first driver to go sub-1m14s with a 13.978s, 0.226s quicker than the seven-time world champion.

Those lap times subsequently went unbeaten so Mercedes didn’t really have an answer to Ferrari’s pace, with Verstappen even jumping ahead of the Silver Arrows to go 0.513s off top spot.

Fernando Alonso was one of two drivers to cause red flags (Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images)

So, the four-time world champion rounded out the top three, partly helped by Fernando Alonso causing a second red flag period when parts of his Aston Martin spread across the chicane following contact with the barrier.

That basically ended the session, leaving Antonelli to take fourth and 0.559s off the pace while Russell completed the top five with his lap being 1.005s slower than Leclerc.

McLaren was kind of in its own world in FP1 with Lando Norris taking sixth, 1.313s off the pace, and Oscar Piastri in eighth, both being split by the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg’s team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto took ninth with 10th going to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ahead of FP2 later on, which commences at 5pm local time.