Monaco Grand Prix: Free practice on Friday

First part of free practice

Sunny. Dry. Air +26C, highway +47C

By the beginning of the European part of the season, the teams prepared a lot of new products, but only after the cancellation of the Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna due to flooding, it began in Monaco, where working with new products is completely inconvenient. However, many of them put them on, devoting the first training session to collecting information in order to have some experience next week in Barcelona.

In particular, a seriously updated car was brought to Mercedes – with much larger side pontoons and seriously redesigned aerodynamics. But other teams also used the opportunity to work with new products in the hope of getting more downforce, which is so important in Monaco.

After the sessions of support races, the track was already in good condition in the first session, and the recently laid new asphalt warmed up to almost 50 degrees under a cloudless sky.

Racers gradually added to the speed, but not without problems. Verstappen complained about clutch problems and poor handling, Russell about clutch settings – both returned to the pits, handing over the cars to mechanics.

Traffic interfered great, although the riders tried to let those who were on a fast lap pass. Sainz hit the barrier without visible consequences in the 15th turn, Stroll in the last, Bottas showed the speed of reaction in the Rascasse, avoiding a collision with Perez.

In the middle of the session, the power plant on Sargent’s car lost power, the car seriously slowed down in the tunnel – he slowly returned to the pits, then left again.

In the 36th minute, Hulkenberg returned to the pits with a rear left tire dismantled after contact with a barrier in the chicane and a turn around – and the session was stopped for five minutes by red flags to clean up the debris.

The second time the red flags appeared in the last minutes after Elbon’s crash at St.Devote. The blow was strong, the rider was not injured, but the Williams mechanics will have to work. The session was decided not to continue.

The best time was shown by Carlos Sainz with a lap time of 1:13.372.

Results of the first session

Pilot	Team	Time	Difference	Circles
1. K. Sainz	Ferrari	1:13.372	–	26
2. F. Alonso	Aston Martin	1:13.710	+0.338	28
3. L. Hamilton	Mercedes	1:14.035	+0.663	27
4. C.Perez	Red Bull	1:14.038	+0.666	27
5. Sh. Leclair	Ferrari	1:14.093	+0.721	24
6. M. Verstappen	Red Bull	1:14.244	+0.872	26
7. L. Norris	McLaren	1:14.467	+1.095	25
8. E. Okon	Alpine	1:14.585	+1.213	29
9. L. Stroll	Aston Martin	1:14.653	+1.281	28
10. A. Albon	Williams	1:14.666	+1.294	32
11. V. Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1:14.718	+1.346	29
12. K. Magnussen	Haas	1:14.725	+1.353	29
13. Y. Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:14.820	+1.448	29
14. P. Gasli	Alpine	1:14.866	+1.494	30
15. D. Russell	Mercedes	1:15.066	+1.694	24
16. N. de Vryz	AlphaTauri	1:15.083	+1.711	33
17. O. Piastri	McLaren	1:15.192	+1.820	32
18. L. Sargent	Williams	1:15.557	+2.185	30
19. G. Zhou	Alfa Romeo	1:15.684	+2.312	25
20. N. Hulkenberg	Haas	1:15.785	+2.413	17