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Charles Bradley

F1 Grand Prix practice results: Leclerc fastest in Monaco GP on Friday

Leclerc was fastest in FP1 and FP2, finishing the day 0.044s ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz and the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.

Monaco Grand Prix FP1 results: Leclerc fastest from Perez

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 29 1'14.531    
2 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 30 1'14.570 0.039 0.039
3 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 28 1'14.601 0.070 0.031
4 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 26 1'14.712 0.181 0.111
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 31 1'15.056 0.525 0.344
6 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 33 1'15.083 0.552 0.027
7 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 33 1'15.157 0.626 0.074
8 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 34 1'15.211 0.680 0.054
9 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 33 1'15.387 0.856 0.176
10 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 29 1'15.499 0.968 0.112
11 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 36 1'15.536 1.005 0.037
12 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 26 1'15.539 1.008 0.003
13 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 28 1'15.749 1.218 0.210
14 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 30 1'15.806 1.275 0.057
15 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 39 1'16.110 1.579 0.304
16 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 24 1'16.315 1.784 0.205
17 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 27 1'16.417 1.886 0.102
18 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 30 1'17.714 3.183 1.297
19 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 12 1'18.636 4.105 0.922
20 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 2      

What happened in Monaco GP Free Practice 1?

Leclerc set the early pace at 1m17.993 on medium tyres, soon topped by Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Verstappen and the track rubbered-in. Leclerc reset the bar at 15.883s as the times continued to tumble, as Sainz beat him by 0.001s.

Leclerc and Verstappen, running the hard tyres, swapped the fastest time between them before Leclerc went straight on at Sainte Devote. Verstappen managed 1m15.327s at this point.

The session was red flagged after 20 minutes when Mick Schumacher’s Haas slowed at Rascasse and ground to a halt at the pitlane entry with an MGU-K fault, causing chaos as cars couldn’t pit.

After the restart, Norris went P1 despite his sickness on 1m15.301s and then 1m15.056s on mediums, leading a mid-session McLaren 1-2 ahead of Ricciardo.

Verstappen switched to mediums and went to the top on 1m14.712s, 0.188s ahead of Perez. Verstappen then had a huge lock-up and went straight on at Ste Devote, as Leclerc jumped up to second and Sainz had a potential P1 lap ruined by traffic at the Swimming Pool section.

Leclerc then took P1 on 1m14.531s, 0.07s ahead of Sainz before Perez rose to second, 0.039s off the quickest time. Verstappen was fourth, ahead of Norris, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Ricciardo. George Russell (Mercedes) was eighth, ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel – a rare soft runner in this session – and Lewis Hamilton’s Merc.

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Perez also took a trip down the Ste Devote escape road.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas didn’t set a time due to a gearbox problem.

Monaco Grand Prix FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Sainz

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 30 1'12.656    
2 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 32 1'12.700 0.044 0.044
3 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 31 1'13.035 0.379 0.335
4 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 33 1'13.103 0.447 0.068
5 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 24 1'13.294 0.638 0.191
6 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 31 1'13.406 0.750 0.112
7 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 32 1'13.636 0.980 0.230
8 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 31 1'13.912 1.256 0.276
9 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 32 1'14.059 1.403 0.147
10 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 27 1'14.134 1.478 0.075
11 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 32 1'14.239 1.583 0.105
12 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 29 1'14.267 1.611 0.028
13 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 28 1'14.468 1.812 0.201
14 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 33 1'14.486 1.830 0.018
15 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 23 1'14.525 1.869 0.039
16 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 29 1'14.623 1.967 0.098
17 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 33 1'14.894 2.238 0.271
18 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 34 1'15.216 2.560 0.322
19 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 33 1'16.276 3.620 1.060
20 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 2      

What happened in Monaco GP Free Practice 2?

Magnussen set the early bar at 1m15.972s, quickly usurped by Leclerc on 1m15.762s.

Times dropped substantially, with Perez going P1 on 1m14.001s – a quarter of a second ahead of Verstappen, both Red Bulls running the mediums initially with the Ferraris behind them using hards.

Vettel had a huge moment at the Swimming Pool, and just kept it out of the wall, before Ricciardo crashed heavily at the same spot – swiping the left-front corner off the car against the barriers.

After the restart, Fernando Alonso (Alpine) was one of the first drivers on soft rubber and leapt to the head of the field briefly before Perez and Verstappen retook the top spots, Perez producing 1m13.324s for P1.

Leclerc set 1m13.125s on his first flyer, which was topped by Verstappen at 1m13.103s on his second lap, then Leclerc improved to set a new P1 time of 1m12.764s. Sainz went second, three tenths down on his teammate.

Leclerc chipped his time down – to 1m12.656s – and Sainz did likewise, getting within 0.221s and then 0.044s, which is how they ended up.

Perez was third ahead of Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Gasly, Alonso, Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda.

Hamilton went straight on Mirabeau and rejoined, while Norris clipped the wall at Ste Devote and had a second adventure there late on.

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