Home favourite Leclerc kicks off Monaco weekend in style with fastest FP1 time

The session got off to an early scare for the Monegasque, who locked up and ran deep into the Mirabeau escape road on his very first out lap. Fortunately for Leclerc, he avoided the barriers, was able to reverse out of the runoff area and rejoin the track without any damage or further issues.

There was a brief moment of tension inside the Haas camp during FP1 in Monaco, as Ocon and Bearman became involved in a radio exchange after finding themselves in close proximity on track. The incident occurred through the fast Swimming Pool section, where Ocon felt his run had been compromised after catching up to his teammate.

The Frenchman immediately voiced his frustration to the team, believing the situation had negatively affected his lap, while Bearman disagreed with the assessment and responded over the radio. Although the exchange was short-lived, it provided one of the more animated moments of the opening practice session.

The first half of the session was dominated by Ferrari, with Leclerc holding the upper hand over his teammate while running on the hard compound. However, the benchmark soon changed when Antonelli bolted on a set of medium tyres and shot to the top of the timesheets, establishing an impressive advantage of around four tenths over the rest of the field.

Another key moment came with just under half an hour remaining in the session, when Isack Hadjar brought out the red flag after a heavy crash during FP1. The Red Bull driver lost control on the exit of the Swimming Pool section and slammed into the barriers, forcing race control to halt the session while marshals recovered the car and repaired the damaged wall.

The stoppage lasted several minutes as marshals worked to clear Hadjar's stricken car and fix the barriers. Running resumed with around 15 minutes remaining, with Antonelli leading the timesheets at the time. Hadjar had been running eighth before the incident, just two positions behind his teammate.

With 10 minutes remaining, Hamilton surged to the top of the timesheets with a 1:14.204 on the medium compound, moving ahead of Antonelli. His teammate soon responded, however, going quickest with a 1:13.978 lap to become the only driver to break the 1:14 barrier.

Another red flag was brought out with just three minutes remaining after Alonso clipped the barriers on the entry to the Harbour Chicane, damaging his front wing and scattering debris across the track. The incident left no time for any further improvements, meaning the order at the top remained unchanged.