Sam Bird led Mitch Evans in a Jaguar 1-2 in Formula E’s first ever session on the full Monaco Grand Prix layout.
Having previously raced on a substantially truncated version of the track – using a link road to go straight from Sainte Devote to the harbourfront chicane – FE is tackling the complete Formula 1 track for the first time this season.
The layout is not quite identical, though, with a slightly chicane different configuration.
An initial plan to have a different profile at Sainte Devote was abandoned in the days leading up to the race, with the first corner now in its usual F1 form.
Practice one at 8am local time on Saturday was the first chance for the cars to try the track at all, with the usual low-speed Friday shakedown session not held in Monaco.
After an uneventful first half, the 45-minute session was interrupted for 12 minutes after Dragon Penske Autosport driver Sergio Sette Camara abruptly ground to a halt just around the apex of Rascasse.
Sette Camara’s car began to roll slowly back down the gradient towards the blind corner, prompted a red flag.
But the session being stopped didn’t prevent Venturi’s Norman Nato running into the back of the stranded Dragon as he rounded the corner to encounter it in his path. Nato was judged to have been at fault and has been given a two-place grid drop for this afternoon’s race plus one penalty point on his licence.
Both cars sustained what looked like minor damage, with Nato able to reverse away and got back to the pits.
Shifting Sette Camara’s car proved to be substantially harder, and a quarter of the session was lost while a large group of marshals worked to get it out of the way.
Jaguar moved into its 1-2 formation in the closing moments as teams rushed to get full power laps in.
Bird’s 1m32.220s lap was 0.033s faster than his team-mate’s best.
Robin Frijns was third for Envision Virgin, ahead of DS Techeetah’s reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne and the Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein.
Championship leader Nyck de Vries was sixth, with his Mercedes team-mate and nearest title rival Stoffel Vandoorne 11th.
Practice 1 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Car | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Bird | Jaguar Racing | Jaguar I-Type 5 | 1m32.22s | ||
| 2 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | Jaguar I-Type 5 | +0.033s | +0.033s | 1m32.253s |
| 3 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.107s | +0.14s | 1m32.36s |
| 4 | António Félix da Costa | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE21 | +0.216s | +0.356s | 1m32.576s |
| 5 | Pascal Wehrlein | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E | Porsche 99X Electric | +0.05s | +0.406s | 1m32.626s |
| 6 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.031s | +0.437s | 1m32.657s |
| 7 | Nick Cassidy | Envision Virgin Racing | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.029s | +0.466s | 1m32.686s |
| 8 | Lucas Di Grassi | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.106s | +0.572s | 1m32.792s |
| 9 | André Lotterer | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E | Porsche 99X Electric | +0.002s | +0.574s | 1m32.794s |
| 10 | Alex Lynn | Mahinda Racing | Mahindra M7Electro | +0.129s | +0.703s | 1m32.923s |
| 11 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.089s | +0.792s | 1m33.012s |
| 12 | Nico Müller | Dragon / Penske Autosport | Penske EV-4 | +0.03s | +0.822s | 1m33.042s |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | DS E-Tense FE21 | +0.012s | +0.834s | 1m33.054s |
| 14 | René Rast | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | Audi e-tron FE07 | +0.036s | +0.87s | 1m33.09s |
| 15 | Norman Nato | RokIT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.103s | +0.973s | 1m33.193s |
| 16 | Edoardo Mortara | RokIT Venturi Racing | Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 | +0.07s | +1.043s | 1m33.263s |
| 17 | Maximilian Günther | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | BMW iFE.21 | +0.018s | +1.061s | 1m33.281s |
| 18 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 Formula E Team | NIO 333 001 | +0.187s | +1.248s | 1m33.468s |
| 19 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.DAMS | Nissan IM02 | +0.065s | +1.313s | 1m33.533s |
| 20 | Alexander Sims | Mahinda Racing | Mahindra M7Electro | +0.304s | +1.617s | 1m33.837s |
| 21 | Sébastien Buemi | Nissan e.DAMS | Nissan IM02 | +0.028s | +1.645s | 1m33.865s |
| 22 | Tom Blomqvist | NIO 333 Formula E Team | NIO 333 001 | +0.05s | +1.695s | 1m33.915s |
| 23 | Jake Dennis | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | BMW iFE.21 | +0.255s | +1.95s | 1m34.17s |
| 24 | Sérgio Sette Câmara | Dragon / Penske Autosport | Penske EV-4 | +4.501s | +6.451s | 1m38.671s |
