Leclerc leads Ferrari sweep of opening Monaco GP practice

Charles Leclerc led Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton to the top of the timesheet for first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Leclerc and Hamilton traded quickest times throughout the hour, transitioning from their opening sets of hard tires to mediums later in the hour, but it was home favorite Leclerc who sealed the deal with a blistering but controlled lap on mediums to set the benchmark at 1m13.978s.

Hamilton, who set his fastest time marginally earlier, looked more lively on the still-dusty but evolving circuit on his way to a best time 0.226s off the pace.

The result will only bolster Ferrari’s pre-weekend favorite status, with the rest of the field more than half a second adrift of Leclerc.

Max Verstappen emerged as the scarlet duo’s closest challenger despite the Dutchman complaining of poor tire usage and technical problems, though the two-time Monte Carlo winner was 0.513s off the pace.

Title leader Kimi Antonelli took top spot on the time sheet thanks to an earlier switch to the faster medium rubber but was shuffled down to fourth in the final reckoning, 0.559s slower than Leclerc. He was backed up by teammate George Russell, but the Briton was 0.446s further back.

Lando Norris led the way for McLaren but ended the hour 1.313s off the pace in a surprisingly uncompetitive session for the reigning Monaco winner. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, fared worse, two places and 0.274s further back, though the Australian had a fast lap on mediums obstructed by Arvid Lindblad at Tabac.

Splitting the McLaren drivers was Nico Hulkenberg, whose Audi was 1.365s off the pace. The German’s performance was supported by teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, who was ninth and 0.407s further back.

Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Alpine ahead of Williams teammates Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Isack Hadjar was the only driver to find the barriers, losing control of his Red Bull Racing car at the exit of the second Swimming Pool chicane just past the halfway mark of the session. The rear of Hadjar’s RB22 stepped out on entry, but the Frenchman couldn’t catch the car before he speared nose-first into the barrier on exit. The force of the impact spun the car around so that it also made contact at the rear before finally grinding to a halt.

“I don’t understand why it snapped off like that. I’m sorry,” he radioed his team before stepping out of the car uninjured.

Hadjar was classified 13th on his original set of hard tires.

Sergio Perez was a competitive 14th for Cadillac ahead of Franco Colapinto and Haas teammates Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, who testily exchanged radio messages with their respective engineers over how closely they were positioned on track on their opening sets of hard tires.

Racing Bulls teammates Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson followed in 18th and 19th after both complained of insufficient steering lock for the hairpin on their opening laps.

Lawson will see the stewards after the session over an alleged impeding incident with Leclerc and also for leaving pit lane under red lights at the end of the session for a practice start, though replays show the pit lane closed only just as he crossed the line to join the track.

Fernando Alonso was 20th for Aston Martin after causing a brief late red flag with three minutes to go when his car suddenly snapped from his control while downshifting at the exit of the tunnel. The Spaniard hit the right-hand barrier, breaking his front wing, the debris from which caused the stoppage while he limped back to pit lane.

Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll completed the order.

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