#MonacoGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 edges @alo_oficial by 0.338 seconds. #F1

Sainz Monaco GP FP1 – Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was quickest on the time-sheets in FP1 at the Monaco GP ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton completing the top three as the session ended under a red flag due to a shunt at St. Devote by Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon.

Sainz posted a 1:13.372 on the yellow C4 medium compound tyres and was 0.338 seconds faster than his fellow Spanish-compatriot with Hamilton a further 0.663 seconds adrift of the Ferrari driver in third.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was the first driver to set the initial benchmark with a 1:26.993, but it was quickly beaten by team-mate Zhou Guanyu, Alonso, Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris, as the first place spot was 10 seconds lower by the end of the opening five minutes.

Alonso and Norris switched positions at the front, with the latter and both Ferrari drivers the only runners using the C4 medium rubber whilst the rest ran the C3 harder tyres as they gained confidence around the streets of Monte Carlo and benefitted as the rubber continued to lay down on the tight-twisty street circuit.

Just past the five-minute mark, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on his second hot-lap flew to the top with a 1:15.931 before team-mate Sainz, who hit the barrier in the second part of the Swimming Pool sequence, but escaped without any damaged onboard the SF-23, then moved ahead on a 1:15.198.

As the session drew closer to the ten minutes running, Leclerc jumped back in-front with a 1:15.037 before a brief trip into the Ferrari garage whilst his team-mate continued to push around the Circuit De Monaco uninterrupted.

Leclerc’s next flyer brought the time down to 1:14.562 before team-mate Sainz ended the opening 20 minutes of the hour-long session fastest on a 1:14.401, which he then beat with a 1:14.245 before heading back to the pits along with majority of the rest of the field.

At this stage of proceedings, Alonso was sitting third in the order with championship leader Max Verstappen fourth and not matching the high early lap total of the Ferrari duo after pitting before them to undergo setup changes after the Dutchman complained that his early set-up was causing him so much bottoming out in his RB19 racer and feared he was going to crash.

After a brief pause in action, more drivers emerged to run the C4 medium compounds for the first time, which Hamilton used to set a 1:14.035 and jump ahead of the Ferrari pairing at the head of the classification.

Verstappen also used the mediums, but after two flying tours he still did not move in-front of Sainz’s previous benchmark effort as he reported that Red Bull’s adjustments had not improved his car and felt it was “still doing the same thing on the bumps – it’s really not good.”

The Red Bull driver was told he had to live with the problem until more substantial changes were made to his RB19 racer before Free Practice 2, whilst Mercedes’ George Russell complained that he could not get his tyres working properly on his updated F1 W14, leaving his rears sliding too much – as the Briton was stuck outside the top ten with almost 25 minutes remaining.

Just as Alonso jumped up to second and only 0.064 seconds off of Hamilton’s leading effort on the medium rubber, the session was stopped after Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg suffered an incident at the Nouvelle Chicane at the tunnel’s exit.

The German, clipped the inside barrier of the first part of the sequence at the bottom of the hill leading down to the Monaco harbour, which knocked his left-rear tyre off the rim and then he spun as he went through the middle part of the complex.

Although Hulkenberg was able to escape and travel slowly back to the pits, the session was red flagged for three minutes whilst the debris left-over from the VF-23 was removed.

FP1 resumed with 20 minutes left on the clock, with Alonso moving taking top of the classification with a 1:13.907 on his initial flying lap after the session returned to green, just after Perez had moved up into third and leading Sainz’s early times on the mediums.

The Ferrari pairing had finally re-emerged a few minutes before the red flag, still running the medium rubber but not troubling the head of the times as they done so in the early proceedings.

This changed when Sainz reclaimed P1 with a 1:13.690 to edge Alonso by 0.058 seconds with 10 minutes remaining.

Alonso then brought the gap down to his fellow Spanish-compatriot by 0.020 seconds just after he had been frustrated from Perez running slowly on the racing line through Casino Square, before Sainz’s next hot-lap got him 0.338 seconds clear with the session-topping 1:13.372.

There were no further improvements as Williams Racing’s Albon crashed heavily at St. Devote and brought out the red flags again – the Thai-Briton driver losing the rear end of his FW45 racer half-way through the opening right-hand corner and then whacking his front and left-side wheels into the barriers.

With just over three minutes left, the session was not resumed, with Albon reporting he was ok and just knocked his knees in the impact of the shunt.

The top three was followed by Perez and Leclerc, who, just before the red flag had to abort a lap which was set to be his personal best after suffering a chicane lock-up and then losing the rear of his SF-23 racer through the second part of the Swimming Pool complex.

Verstappen wound up sixth and also suffering a sliding moment at that spot during the late running – the two-time world champion gesturing frustratingly as he travelled back slowly and through the circuit’s final corners.

Norris ended FP1 in seventh in-front of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who climbed up the classification later on and was another driver to tap the walls – the Canadian doing so at the final corners after catching an on-throttle oversteer snap as he pushed through towards the pit-straight during the middle part of the session.

The aforementioned Albon completed the top ten.

Alfa Romeo’s Bottas placed outside the top 10 in 11th place and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who took 12th in the order, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who came 13th in the classification and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who ended the session 14th.

Mercedes’ Russell finished Free Practice 1 in 15th and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries who was 16th and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who placed 17th.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant ended FP1 in a 18th and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou who took 19th as Haas F1 Team’s Hulkenberg brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2023 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1210/monaco/practice-1.html

#F1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2023 Preview. #MonacoGP #Formula1