Home-favorite Leclerc sets the pace at Monaco in the first practice sessions

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets in both Friday practice sessions at the Monaco Grand Prix, edging out McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by just 0.038 seconds in the second session. Despite expressing doubts about Ferrari’s competitiveness heading into the weekend, the Monegasque driver showed strong form on his home turf.

Piastri, who currently leads the championship standings, recovered impressively from an early crash at Sainte Devote.

The Australian driver clipped the barriers nose-first, damaging his front wing, but quickly bounced back to post the second-fastest lap of the day.

Ferrari had more reason to be optimistic, with Lewis Hamilton clocking the third-best time, just 0.105 seconds behind Leclerc. It was an encouraging display for the Scuderia, especially after Leclerc had described the car as “nowhere” following the first session.

🏁 END OF FP2 🏁

TOP 10
Leclerc 👏
Piastri
Hamilton
Norris
Lawson
Hadjar
Alonso
Albon
Antonelli
Verstappen#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/0V2Bx4k1LO

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McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth, 0.322 seconds off the pace, followed by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Hadjar had a scrappy day, suffering two crashes during the session.

Leclerc’s eventful day included an off-track excursion at Mirabeau on his opening lap and a collision with Lance Stroll at the Loews hairpin. Stroll, on a slow lap, inadvertently moved into Leclerc’s path, causing contact that damaged the Ferrari’s front wing. While Leclerc continued, Stroll’s Aston Martin sustained rear suspension damage, forcing him to retire from the session and take a gearbox change.

As a result of the incident, Stroll was handed a one-place grid penalty for impeding Leclerc and showing a lack of awareness.