Charles Leclerc fastest in FP1 at home Monaco Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc was fastest in the first practice session ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. It was a quiet hour in the Principality with the only red flag coming from Mick Schumacher, but no damage was caused by it, as the German stopped in front of the pit lane and blocked it.

McLaren amongst the top teams in the timings charts

It was a strong session for McLaren, with both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finding themselves in the top 10 for the majority of the session. However, it was the young Brit that was able to find the most out of his car, with Norris leading the session at points and being compared to the times of Red Bull and Ferrari. Ricciardo finished the session in seventh, two places behind his teammate.

As for Red Bull and Ferrari, the places were forever switching. Only Sainz didn't end up in Sainte Devote, but that didn't affect the performance and confidence of his rivals. Leclerc had the better of Max Verstappen, with the current World Champion only finding enough pace for fourth overall, but it's nothing to worry about yet.

Mercedes' porpoising troubles continued with both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton complaining about the issue. This clearly affected the drivers as they were only able to finish in eighth and tenth respectively.

Aston Martin and AlphaTauri top the midfield

Pierre Gasly found the top 10 at the end of the session, with a strong lap, placing him in sixth and only 0.552 seconds off Leclerc. Sebastian Vettel also managed to find himself amongst the Mercedes drivers, splitting the British duo and claiming the ninth spot. Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll were battling to get into the top 10 but were unable to find the pace needed and both drivers struggled at points.

Alpine will hope to forget this session quickly, as both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon struggled majorly.

Williams, Haas and Alfa Romeo have quiet session

It was almost a non-existent FP1 to report on for Williams, Haas and Alfa Romeo, apart from a few trips to Sainte Devote and a shake-up for Alex Albon. The Thai driver lost his rear briefly whilst heading down towards the Neuvelle chicane, but he was able to save his car from any damage. As for his teammate, Nicholas Latifi was only able to best an 18th place finish.

Valtteri Bottas' bad luck in Monaco has continued from last year, as the Finn wasn't able to set a time and missed the whole session due to an issue with his car. Alfa Romeo's rookie Guanyu Zhou didn't have a much better session, finishing in 17th.

Schumacher didn't find any pace after his pit lane issue and could only best a 19th place finish, whilst Kevin Magnussen finished in 14th after struggling in the session.