#MonacoGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @SChecoPerez. #F1

Leclerc Monaco GP FP1 – Home Grand Prix favourite Charles Leclerc was quickest in FP1 at the Monaco GP ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz who completed the top three.

Leclerc, who has yet to finish an F1 for FIA Formula 2 World Champion race on the streets of Monte Carlo, had to abandon a couple of potentially quicker tours late on. But his 1:14.531 benchmark on the C4 yellow side-walled medium compounds kept him on top of the classifications, despite the late improvement from Perez.

Reigning world champion and points leader Max Verstappen, placed fourth as the Mercedes faced more porpoising issues with their F1 W13 racers.

The first Free Practice session to take place on a Friday during the modern era saw a string of fastest laps by Verstappen and the Ferrari pairing seeing the trio constantly changing places at the top of the order in the early proceedings.

The leaders went their separate ways with the harder C3 white-marked harder rubber used by Verstappen, whilst the Ferrari duo opted for the C3 mediums.

Verstappen was the first to head out on track ahead of Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon, Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull team-mate Perez.

The Dutchman complained of an early DRS activation problem, like those which hampered his qualifying and the race at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

But the Red Bull driver was soon up to speed, as McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo posted the early benchmark with a 1:20.634 to lead Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and team-mate Lando Norris – still not feeling well after being plagued with tonsillitis in Spain.

Leclerc was the first driver to go into the 1:20’s, lapping with a 1:17.993 before team-mate Sainz wound up seven tenths quicker moments later as the streets of Monaco began to rubber in.

Then Verstappen continued his first stint on the hards, hitting top spot on a 1:16.582 to jump clear by half a second.

As the field hunted down Sir Lewis Hamilton’s 1:10.166 lap record from the 2019 event in Q3, Leclerc then went purple in all three sectors.

Verstappen ended up a tenth off next tour around, the RB18 completing the lap with a 1:16.276 after ten minutes.

Whilst Hamilton and Russell complained of extreme bouncing, Verstappen then went below the 1:16’s as he pushed to a 1:15.933 on the slower, more durable Pirelli C3’s.

Sanz was second, just a thousandth off team-mate Leclerc, who went fastest on a 1:15714.

Then the home favourite’s rhythm was disrupted when Leclerc’s front-right locked up over the bumps at St. Devote and went down the escape road.

Verstappen then stepped up once more with quickest efforts in sector two and three to take P1 once again with a 1:15.327.

But the constant changing of times at the top of the order was interrupted by a red flag after the 20th minute on the clock.

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher complained of a transmission issue and stopped at the pit-lane entrance.

The position of his VF-22 racer forced Alonso to a stop when he was unable to get by the halted Schumacher, forcing the Spaniard to switch to reverse. The blockage quickly became red flags.

After four minutes, the circuit re-opened, which made way for the McLaren drivers to move to the top.

Medium-running Norris lowered the benchmark to a 1:15.301 and then set a 1:15.056 to keep 0.2 ahead of team-mate Ricciardo on the same compound.

It took until the 22nd minute when AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly split the pairing as Russell then jumped to third, demoting Ricciardo.

As the final 15 of the hour long session hit, again the Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s rose back to the top of the leaderboard.

Verstappen went fastest with a 1:14.713 after his switch to the medium tyres but soon took an excursion into the escape road at Sainte Devote due to a long front-right lock up.

Sainz could have gone even quicker with the best sectors one and two at the time, only to encounter slow traffic across the swimming pool chicane.

This allowed Leclerc to take second, just three-thousandths off Verstappen, before his session-topping effort came.

With 12 minutes left on the clock, Leclerc flew around on the mediums to post a 1:14.531 to hold P1, which remained as the best time.

Perez was able to improve to be 0.039 seconds off, as Sainz ended the session 0.070 off his team-mate in third.

Verstappen was fourth in the classification, whilst Norris, Gasly and Ricciardo were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Mercedes duo Russell and Hamilton ended opening practice in eighth and tenth respectively as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel sandwiched in-between the two F1 W13 entries.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda ended FP1 in 11th and ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who placed 12th with Alpine’s Alonso 13th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who came 14th on the time-sheets.

Williams Racing’s Albon ended opening practice 15th and ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took 16th in the classifications and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who placed 17th.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi was 18th and in-front of the aforementioned Schumacher who ended the session 19th and Bottas who brought up the rear.

Bottas only completed two tours at the circuit where the lighter and shorter wheel-based C42 is expected to shine.

The Finn complained of a gearbox problem, but never re-emerged thereafter.

You can see the full Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1112/monaco/practice-1.html

#Formula1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2022 Preview. #F1 #MonacoGP