Carlos Sainz led the opening practice session for the 2023 F1 Monaco GP, ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. Max Verstappen struggled for grip in his Red Bull and Alex Albon smashed his Williams against the wall on the exit of Saint Devote, bringing an end to the session.
Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
As FP1 around the principality began, several drivers took to the streets to start work on their car’s setup, most of them on the harder compound of tyre.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen reported over the radio that the clutch on his RB19 was “almost impossible” to engage coming out of the pits, to which he had no reply from his team.
The Dutchman’s early struggles continued, as he soon reported, after his first flying laps, that the car was “bottoming out a lot“.
After a flurry of laps in the first ten minutes, the two Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz led Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez surprisingly sat in last place after his lap was ruined by a traffic jam at the final two corners.
Mercedes’ much anticipated upgraded package debuted in this session, but the start wasn’t ideal for either driver, with Lewis Hamilton reporting overheating rear tires and George Russell complaining of brake locking on the hairpin.
Max Verstappen’s issues continued to be prominent with a third of the session gone, with the Dutchman saying over the radio he was about to “shunt” with the car setup as it was, and the Red Bull team was quick to bring him in and change the ride height.
With 40 minutes of the session remaining, Carlos Sainz led his team-mate Leclerc by nearly three tenths, with Fernando Alonso a further 0.1s back, and the struggling Verstappen in 4th place, another three tenths back from Alonso. Tsunoda, Perez, Magnussen, Stroll, Ocon and Norris – the only one on the medium tyres along with the two Ferraris – completed the top 10.
Logan Sargeant suffered from problems with his Williams FW45. The American reported over the radio that he had “no drive” and slowly recovered back to the pits. The FIA later declared the Williams team will be investigated after a suspicion of an unsafe release of the American.
On the second run, Lewis Hamilton got his vastly changed W14 to the top of the timings, with an impressive time of 1:14.035 getting the Briton 0.210s ahead of Sainz. Max Verstappen’s following lap left the reigning world champion over four-and-a-half tenths behind the seven-time champion, still in fourth place.
George Russell was still unhappy with his new Mercedes during his second stint in practice, reporting that the rear of his W14 was “weak“. The Briton sat in 14th position with 25 minutes of the session remaining.
Verstappen reported the changes the team made to his car made his situation “a little bit better” but still had issues overall with rear grip and the ride over bumps – with Red Bull replying the Dutchman would have to “live with it” for the session until more extensive changes could be made in between FP1 and FP2.
Nico Hulkenberg had the first major off of the weekend, with the German hitting the inside wall heading into the Nouvelle Chicane and breaking the rim on his rear left tyre, causing the first red flag of the weekend, as the marshals picked up the debris left by the collision.
As the session stopped, the classified order of the top 10 was: Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Albon, Perez, Tsunoda and Bottas.
The session was quickly restarted with 19 minutes remaining, and Fernando Alonso jumped up to first place when the session resumed, posting a very quick time of a 1:13.907 that took him to P1, just over 0.1s clear of Hamilton’s earlier time.
But the Spaniard was quickly eclipsed by his fellow countryman Sainz, who got the Ferrari to the top with a time of a 1:13.690, which he would later improve to a 1:13.372.
Traffic was a big issue for all drivers throughout the session, with Fernando Alonso complaining late on of being blocked by Sergio Perez, sarcastically claiming “these guys are incredible” in reaction to it.
With just three minutes of the session remaining, Alex Albon had a major shunt in his Williams coming out of Saint Devote, with the Thai thankfully reporting he was “ok“, unlike his FW45 which had a very a damaged rear left tyre.
Albon lost the rear and clobbered the wall on the exit of turn one. He reported to have banged his knees but no injuries.
This brought out the second red flag of FP1 and an early end to a frantic first practice session on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Source: F1
