Lewis Hamilton was quickest in the opening practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen ended up down in 11th place.
The Mercedes driver set the pace with a 1’12.169, narrowly ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with his team mate George Russell in third. All three ran the softest available tyres, which some of their rivals left untouched.
The first hour of practice began with teams with their eyes on the skies with the threat of rain in the air. All 20 drivers rushed out on track to ensure they could maximise their dry tyre running in case of a shower.
After 17 laps on hard tyres to begin the session, Leclerc posted the fastest lap of all with a 1’13.132 on his old tyres, three tenths faster than his Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr. Hamilton went second on new medium tyres, a tenth-and-a-half behind, with Verstappen third on an old set of mediums.
Naturally, drivers had to find their rhythm around the circuit, with several making mistakes. Valtteri Bottas and Alexander Albon both had an excursion into the run off at Sainte Devote, before Bottas’ Sauber team mate Zhou Guanyu clipped the outside barrier at the notorious first corner leaving debris on the racing line to be collected by Leclerc’s Ferrari, the next car on the scene. The session was red-flagged to allow marshals to clear the debris.
Practice resumed with exactly 10 minutes remaining. Leclerc returned to the track but was warned he had lost some downforce from the debris.
Verstappen struggled to improve his personal best after suffering with he inconsistent balance of his Red Bull, but Hamilton found more time on the soft rubber to post the best time of the hour with a 1’12.169, which remained that was until the chequered flag.
Piastri was second quickest by just 0.029s in the McLaren, with Russell third in the second Mercedes. Lando Norris was fourth-fastest, two tenths behind his team mate, with Leclerc the quickest Ferrari driver in fifth.
The two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were sixth and seventh respectively, with the two RBs of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were eighth and ninth. Carlos Sainz Jnr was tenth, just ahead of the two Red Bull drivers Verstappen and Sergio Perez in 11th and 12th.
Pierre Gasly completed only six laps in the session after his running was interrupted by a suspected wastegate problem on his power unit. Alpine managed to return him onto the track in the final two minutes for a single timed lap at the end of the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…