What happened in Monaco Grand Prix FP1

Sergio Perez led opening Monaco Grand Prix practice for Red Bull, with Carlos Sainz Jr starring for Ferrari in second.

Key moments

– Perez fastest but one of few frontrunners on softs
– Leclerc misses most of session after gearbox failure
– Sainz hints at Ferrari potential with multiple time-topping laps
– Mercedes fifth and sixth but stay on hards
– Alonso hits wall at final corner but escapes major damage

Perez moved to the front late on with a 1m12.536s lap on softs, and then improved his pace to 1m12.487s with his very last lap of the session. That put him 0.119s clear of Sainz.

A morning of contrasts at Ferrari started immediately with Charles Leclerc reporting what he initially thought might be an engine issue before he and the team concluded it was a gearbox problem.

The unit needed to be changed and he was forced to park in the garage after just four slow laps.

But his team-mate Sainz was flying throughout. He was quickest for most of the first half-hour, had another spell on top even after being deposed by the Mercedes and Max Verstappen, and finally ended up second and fastest of those on medium tyres.

Verstappen also had spells fastest, though traffic spoiled other laps and he also complained about the gearbox set-up over team radio. He was 0.161s off the pace in third using medium tyres.

A run on softs early in the second half of the session put Gasly’s AlphaTauri quickest for a while and held up for fourth place.

Mercedes stayed on hards for their best laps, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas just over half a second from the front in fifth and sixth.

Lando Norris’s newly Gulf-coloured McLaren was seventh, eight places and one second ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin, the second AlphaTauri of Monaco rookie Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo completed the top 10.

Fernando Alonso took some front wing damage, he's now back in the pits

We were briefly under yellow flags, but we are now back under way#MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/yOvHUT2jPt

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 20, 2021

Raikkonen had got away with a big lock-up that sent him down the Sainte Devote escape road. Fellow past world champion and Monaco winner Fernando Alonso was less lucky and hit the wall at the final corner, though his Alpine only suffered minor damage and was soon back out.

Practice 1 Results