Mercedes dominates first practice at Monaco Grand Prix, with Hamilton setting pace from Piastri

The Monaco Grand Prix is currently being broadcast live on 5 Live and the BBC Sport website. During the first practice session held on Friday, Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes set the pace, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri closely behind. Hamilton expressed hope for a competitive weekend from Mercedes and was only 0.029 seconds quicker than Piastri.

Following Hamilton and Piastri, George Russell in another Mercedes took third place, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen struggled in 11th place and was 0.815 seconds off the pace due to complaints about his car being “so loose over the bumps.”

The top five drivers were closely matched, with Russell just 0.126 seconds off the pace and Leclerc in fifth position 0.228 seconds behind Hamilton. There was a noticeable gap to sixth-place Fernando Alonso as drivers focused on reacquainting themselves with the tight Monaco street circuit and gaining confidence in their cars. The practice session was briefly red-flagged to clear debris from Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber hitting the wall at Sainte Devote, but fortunately, he only suffered a damaged front wing.

Logan Sergeant from Williams also nearly crashed but managed to avoid disaster. The top ten was rounded out by Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, and Carlos Sainz before the second practice session later in the day at 16:00 UK time.