Charles Leclerc was quickest in opening practice for the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix as Ferrari went 1-2 to back up its pre-weekend hype while Isack Hadjar crashed for Red Bull.

Leclerc set a 1m13.978s at his home circuit, 0.226s faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton after many had picked Ferrari as the Monaco favourite due to the SF-26’s strength in slow-speed corners.

The Scuderia was also the talk of the paddock heading into the weekend for off-track matters, as Leclerc signing a new deal was no doubt the biggest storyline upon arrival to this year’s first European race.

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The Monegasque, however, had a moment to forget inside the opening few minutes by locking up into the Turn 5 escape road on his hard tyres, the compound of choice early in FP1.

But it was a very busy early stage, so traffic became a big problem on the tight track, which included a frustrated Haas pair Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman wrecking each other’s laps.

The early pace was nonetheless set by Ferrari with a 1m14.928s for Leclerc, 0.182s quicker than team-mate Hamilton and 0.508s over championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third.

Max Verstappen finished the session in third

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images

So, the opening 25 minutes saw dominance from Mercedes and Ferrari with fourth-placed Max Verstappen 0.9s off the pace in his Red Bull, while venting “my tyres are just dead”. That comment came just before the halfway mark, which saw most teams move onto the medium rubber to inevitably cause quicker lap times.

Antonelli was the first to beat Leclerc’s benchmark with a 1m14.537s, 0.471s quicker than team-mate George Russell who moved up to third, but Ferrari was one team to not make the early switch.

Instead, the Scuderia had opted to work on its cars inside the garage and was forced to stay there for a little while longer as Hadjar caused a red flag with 25 minutes remaining.
That happened after the Red Bull driver messed up his turn-in to the Turn 15-16 chicane and slid across the kerbs and into the barrier - his second crash in three weekends after retiring in Miami.

It was a relatively brief red flag though as green conditions returned with 15 minutes left and Ferrari opted to leave its garage on mediums this time, Hamilton consequently taking top spot with a 1m14.204s.

His advantage didn’t last for long though as moments later saw Leclerc become the first driver to go sub-1m14s with a 13.978s, 0.226s quicker than the seven-time world champion.

Those lap times subsequently went unbeaten so Mercedes didn’t really have an answer to Ferrari’s pace, with Verstappen even jumping ahead of the Silver Arrows to go 0.513s off top spot.

Fernando Alonso was one of two drivers to cause red flags

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

So, the four-time world champion rounded out the top three, partly helped by Fernando Alonso causing a second red flag period when parts of his Aston Martin spread across the chicane following contact with the barrier.

That basically ended the session, leaving Antonelli to take fourth and 0.559s off the pace while Russell completed the top five with his lap being 1.005s slower than Leclerc.

McLaren was kind of in its own world in FP1 with Lando Norris taking sixth, 1.313s off the pace, and Oscar Piastri in eighth, both being split by the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg’s team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto took ninth with 10th going to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ahead of FP2 later on, which commences at 5pm local time.

F1 Monaco GP: FP1 results

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	31	1'13.978		M	162.388
2	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+0.226 1'14.204	0.226	M	161.894
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	26	+0.513 1'14.491	0.287	M	161.270
4	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.559 1'14.537	0.046	M	161.170
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+1.005 1'14.983	0.446	M	160.212
6	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	27	+1.313 1'15.291	0.308	M	159.556
7	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	27	+1.365 1'15.343	0.052	M	159.446
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	29	+1.587 1'15.565	0.222	M	158.978
9	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	31	+1.772 1'15.750	0.185	M	158.590
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	32	+1.850 1'15.828	0.078	M	158.426
11	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	33	+2.011 1'15.989	0.161	M	158.091
12	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	31	+2.063 1'16.041	0.052	M	157.983
13	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	14	+2.170 1'16.148	0.107	H	157.761
14	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	28	+2.192 1'16.170	0.022	S	157.715
15	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	32	+2.211 1'16.189	0.019	M	157.676
16	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	31	+2.314 1'16.292	0.103	M	157.463
17	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	31	+2.355 1'16.333	0.041	M	157.378
18	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	34	+2.411 1'16.389	0.056	M	157.263
19	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	31	+2.453 1'16.431	0.042	M	157.177
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	21	+2.700 1'16.678	0.247	M	156.670
21	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	27	+3.482 1'17.460	0.782	S	155.089
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	16	+3.578 1'17.556	0.096	M	154.897
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