Charles Leclerc topped the first practice session for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix with Max Verstappen second fastest as Lando Norris completed the top three.
Leclerc's home grand prix weekend was off to a promising start as he topped the timing screens at the end of the first hour of practice despite complaining all session long about his car understeering, oversteering, eating up its tyres while claiming there was something wrong with it.
He survived an early session clash with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll who jumped in his way. The Ferrari returned to the session after suffering front wing damage while the Aston was not that lucky. Stroll retired with a damaged gearbox and rear suspension.
Verstappen had a slow start to his session with Red Bull Racing opting for the Hard tyres as they sampled a new high downforce rear wing while running two different specs of front wings.
However, the Dutchman went second fastest towards the end of the session while on qualifying simulations on Soft tyres, and was one and a half tenths slower than Leclerc.
Lando Norris, whose McLaren team were tipped as favorites this weekend, was 0.326s off the pace in third ahead of Alex Albon in fourth while Oscar Piastri was fifth in the second Papaya car.
George Russell was sixth, over half a second slower than Leclerc in the Mercedes as early signs show the Silver and Black arrows may struggle this weekend with elevated track temperatures prevailing from FP1.
Williams had decent session with Carlos Sainz finishing seventh fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly who was eighth in the Alpine while Lewis Hamilton was ninth, 0.726s slower than his teammate.
Fernando Alonso was tenth in the Aston Martin who had their new tech boss, Adrian Newey, trackside for the first time since he joined the team.
As for the rookies, Kimi Antonelli was 11th, with Isack Hadjar 13th. Oliver Bearman was 15th, Gabriel Bortoleto was 18th while Franco Colapinto was 19th.
Buildup towards FP1
We are in the second race of the European triple header, as Formula 1 heads to Monaco, the crown jewel of the sport's calendar.
There is so much to look out for in Monaco this year and we start with the new mandatory two-pitstop rule that has been adopted to spice up the show and avoid the race being a procession which has been the case in recent years as the F1 cars have become bigger and heavier, and while some might blame the track, that should not be the case.
And for the second weekend in a row, Pirelli will bring its softest compounds to Monaco: The C4 (Hard), the C5 (Medium), and the C6 (Soft)
The C6 caused a headache for teams and drivers during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as it was too soft and wouldn't last for one qualifying lap, so it would be interesting to see how it performs around Monaco.
In terms of upgrades, all the teams have brought track-specific high downforce bits to their cars this weekend.
Verstappen won at Imola with an upgraded RB21 but insisted his form was track specific as McLaren should dominate around the low-speed corners of Monaco.
What can Ferrari do? Can they sort out their qualifying woes? And what of Mercedes who were penalized by the high track temperatures of Imola?
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in clear conditions with track temperatures recording 40 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was 22 degrees.
The drivers did not waste any time to set out on track and the action started as soon as the green light at the end of the pitlane was illuminated.
The drivers opted for a mix of Soft, Medium, and Hard tyres and Leclerc - on the Mediums - soon had a moment into Mirebeau after locking up and ended up in the run-off area.
But then, minutes later, Leclerc crashed into the back to Stroll who moved into the way of the Monegasque. It seems the Canadian was not aware of the blue flags and when did not hear his engineer informing that Leclerc was coming.
That brought out a Yellow flag as Leclerc limped back to the pits with a broken front wing, but then the flag became Red as there was quite some debris to clear from the track.
The session was restarted with 45 minutes remaining on the clock. While Leclerc rejoined with a new front wing, Stroll didn't as his AMR25 suffered a surprisingly huge hit - rear suspension and gearbox require changing.
Norris seemed to be pushing early on as he brushed the barriers in the second part of the swimming pool chicane.7
Lawson, at one point, was not happy with Hamilton, he radioed: "I nearly hit Hamilton. He braked right before the last corner."
Lawson's engineer responded: "Usual Hamilton stuff."
Halfway into the session Russell came too close to the wall at the exit of Turn 1 while Gasly had to take avoiding action while a Haas was going slow in front of him.
"They have to wake up, it Monaco," Gasly radioed.
Lawson then complained about smelling his brakes in the cockpit which was very bad...
Verstappen then had to back off while on a fast lap as Bortoleto in the Sauber impeded him.
Leclerc then complained about his car saying: "We are nowhere." He said he was suffering understeer on right corner and oversteer on left ones. Strange since Leclerc was second fastest.
Sainz in the meantime locked up going into Turn 1 and ended up in the run-off area. Norris copied his former teammate's error moments later.
Hamilton had a close call with an Alpine up the hill while on a hot lap. He just managed to avoid it as he also has to deal with another car.
Piastri had to box and asked his team to check his car after hitting the barriers. Hadjar also did the same at the swimming pool chicane.
Hamilton locked up at the chicane after exiting the tunnel and went straight. Norris did the same moments later.
Hamilton then had a huge moment in the chicane at Turn 15 as he was surprised by a slow-going Mercedes and went flying over the kerb and pitted immediately to check his Ferrari for damage.
Tsunoda then went out of shape in the chicane after exiting the tunnel and did well to control his RB21 and avoid ending up in the barriers.
The Japanese driver then resorted to some colorful language commenting on the slow-going Haas that caught him off guard in the final corner.
Bortoleto ended up in the run-off area of Turn 1 in the final moments of the sessions when drivers where heading to the start/finish line to do some practice starts.
But we concluded the session with some Hadjar soundbites, he said: "That was the busiest FP1 of my life."
Monaco GP FP1 Classification
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