Monaco’s own Charles Leclerc tops Monaco’s first session of the weekend. For the first time in a month, we head into a race with multiple practice sessions. It appears the Monegasque was the first driver dialled in. It was a Ferrari one two by the time the checkered flag was waved.

Ferrari Vs Mercedes

Heading into the weekend of the 72^nd Monaco grand Prix, the McLaren camp believed Ferrari to be the favourites. The street track has a lack of straights and straight-line mode has been made unavailable. The lack of need for straight-line power is a huge help for the Maranello based team. With a strong chassis in cornering, particularly slow speed, Ferrari seemed to show strong pace fresh out the blocks.

Almost immediately after going green, we had the first yellow flag. Leclerc went straight on at Mirabeau Haut as the track had a lack of grip from overnight rain. He ended his session in an almost identical fashion to the start but not before going fastest. 

With all cars on the hard tyre, except Cadillac and Lance Stroll, it was Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli, and Leclerc swapping around in the top three. Antonelli seemed to settle in faster than teammate George Russell. The Brit spent the early stages down in P18 before jumping into P8. He remained more than two tenths off the championship leader until the second half of the session. 

The switch onto the mediums saw the Mercedes look strong in the hands of Antonelli. The 19-year-old was in P1 for a chunk of the session with a 1:14.537. The red flag halted improvements until a later resurgence from Leclerc and Hamilton saw them jump Antonelli and trade the top spot. It was Ultimately Leclerc who came out on top with a 1:13.978. The first driver this weekend to break into the 1:13s.

Hadjar In The Wall And Verstappen Finding Pace

The first half of the session saw very brief interruptions. One yellow flag by Leclerc, another one by Hamilton, and a brief Virtual Safety car for Alpine debris on track.  Those seemed to be the extent of disruptions before a shunt for Isack Hadjar brought out the red flag. The Red Bull driver lost the rear into the first part of the Swimming Pool chicane hitting the barriers.

There was significant damage to his left rear and his front wing. His accident happened not long after Lando Norris had a similar slide. The McLaren driver, however, was able to save it as his slide happened earlier in the corner. Hadjar was down in eighth at the time and will hope his car can be fixed to take part in practice two.

On the other side of the garage Max Verstappen managed to finish the session in third place. The early part of the session saw the World Champion make complaints of the car’s handling. A surprise jump up in the order came as a reminder to never count the Dutch driver out.

A Disrupted Final Three Minutes

Another red flag came out in the last three minutes for debris in the middle of the track outside the tunnel. A heavy brush with the wall for Fernando Alonso saw him lose a piece of his front wing. The debris location was in an unsafe place causing the session to be stopped.

By the end of practice, it was evident out the gate Ferrari and Mercedes were the ones to beat. Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg showed impressive pace throughout the session. He consistently jumped up into P6, managing to finish the session in P7. McLaren looked to be the top team struggling the most with neither within a second of the top time. The team celebrating their 1000^th Grand Prix will hope to find some pace in practice two.

The top 10 at the end of the session was as follows:

1. Charles Leclerc 
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Max Verstappen
4. Kimi Antonelli
5. George Russell
6. Lando Norris
7. Nico Hülkenberg
8. Oscar Piastri
9. Gabriel Bortoleto 
10. Pierre Gasly