Disruption in Monaco: Street Drama at “The Jewel in the Crown”
A two-week break from Formula 1 came to an end as the cars took to the famous streets of Monaco. 3 practice sessions, one qualifying session and a race loomed ahead of the 22 drivers. Homeboy hero Charles Leclerc was optimistic about the weekend, with Ferrari saying they looked strong for the weekend.
The first session of the weekend was Free Practice 1. The drivers had their first 60-minute slot to get the new generation of F1 cars accustomed to the Jewel in the Crown. At 13:30 local time, the light at the end of the pit lane went green for the first time in 2026, and with much delight to the locals, Leclerc was the first to exit, but the excitement was short-lived as he locked up and went straight on at Mirabeau. Pirelli have been generous this year and provided the C3 Hard, C4 Medium and C5 Soft for the drivers to choose from this weekend, the medium compound looking like the favourite for the race on Sunday.
It was 3 minutes into the session when all 22 cars were out on the 3.337km circuit, and everyone opted for the Hard tyre. Track evolution is always high around Monaco, but the circuit is open to the public in the evening, meaning the roads are reset for the next day. Lindblad had problems from the get-go, with him getting on the radio just after he exited the pit lane to report he did not have the level of steering he’d have liked. His teammate was troubled by gremlins as he radioed that it felt like he had the steering lock on, while both VCARB men struggled to conquer the Fairmont Hairpin.
There are now 22 cars on the grid, fighting for a space on the narrow circuit. Traffic was a huge problem last year, but now with 2 extra cars, it’ll be a lot worse for them. Hamilton was the first to set the benchmark for the weekend, 10 minutes into the session, finding a comfortable pace with a 1:15.617. Verstappen shortly followed to fill up the board, but ended up 3 tenths slower than Hamilton. Ferrari were the favourites to win on Sunday, and it looked hopeful if they kept up their current pace.
Aston Martin seemed to be bedevilled by issues again because an issue developed after Lance Stroll completed only one lap before peeling back into the pits. He remained in the pits for a good 10 minutes before re-emerging on the medium tyres to run some test laps for the team. His teammate Alonso had completed 5 laps on the hard tyre at this point, showing off Aston Martin’s special livery for Monaco.
17 minutes had dropped off the clock, and Leclerc was leading the timings with a 1:15.060. Last year’s pole, which was set by reigning World Champion Lando Norris, was a 1:09.954, but in a different generation of Formula car. 2026 World Champion favourite Andrea Kimi Antonelli sat in second, but 4 tenths back from the Monegasque. Now half an hour into the session, the Mercedes got bored with the hard compound and decided to switch to the mediums to test their capabilities for the race. It seemed to help the Silver Arrows gain some extra tenths as Antonelli improved to P3, half a tenth back from Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc decided to celebrate the countdown hitting 30 minutes by clipping the barrier into the Swimming Pool, and luckily, he didn’t break his suspension, and he managed to carry on into the pit lane. Meanwhile, other pitted cars started to show their face to test the C4 medium compounds to simulate race runs.
The first red flag was flown at 14:05 local time, courtesy of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar. He stopped at the Swimming Pool with no front wing and only 3 tyres on his car. Fortunately, he climbed out of the car and reported he was ok. The replays shown he lost the rear into the chicane after a small snap, locking the rear tyres and becoming a passenger as his chassis sailed into the barrier nose-first.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, the red flag was retracted with Antonelli topping the times with a 1:14.537, leading Leclerc and Russell. Hulkenberg was the first out on fresh medium tyres. Verstappen seemed to be troubled, evidented by his angry radio messages to say “Guys, please fix this ***** release, it doesn’t ***** work”. He seemed to have problems all session, sitting seventh in the order.
The session ran almost smoothly, albeit with a few minor bumps and scrapes, for another 10 minutes until Alonso lost the rear of his Aston Martin coming out of the tunnel, clipping the barrier at the front. This caused another red flag with only 7 minutes to go. The race was on to clear the debris. The session resumed with just over 1 minute on the clock, and it was a dash to the pit exit to be able to get out to do practice starts on the grid. Lawson found himself in a spot of bother as his onboard showed him crossing the pit exit line less than a second after the light at the end of the pit lane went red. The stewards would have to look into that.
The local Monegasque started the weekend on top with a 1:13.978, cementing Ferrari’s strong pace in Monaco. Teammate Lewis Hamilton fell second and Verstappen third, 0.513 seconds in arrears. All eyes would be on Ferrari for FP2 later that afternoon.
