Categories: Sports

Hamilton leads a confusing FP1 in Monaco Formula 1, with Alonso sixth

The first free practice session for the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix has taken place. very tense from the first minute of action to the lastas Montercalo’s characteristics, unique to the current calendar, mean teams need to test more to fine-tune their cars.

After the first 60 minutes of training, which surprisingly ended without any serious incident, although there was Red flag for touching Zhou to the wallLewis Hamilton led the timetable with a result 1:12,169ahead of Oscar Piastri by 0.029 s.

Rounding out the top three is another Mercedes, George Russell, who is 0.126 seconds behind the best time in Free Practice 1 set by his teammate. Mixed with the teams, Lando Norris was fourth at 0.227 seconds, just 0.001 seconds faster than Charles Leclerc.

Both Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lance Stroll, were sixth and seventh, although more than six tenths off the best time. Two RBs (Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo) and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten positions. However, the fact that Verstappen and Perez were so far behind in 11th and 12th positions was a clear indication that it’s not representative of what the times werepartly because neither Ferrari nor the Red Bulls used soft tires.

Formula 1’s negative mark went to Pierre Gasly and Alpin, who had to make a pit stop just 20 minutes into the session. power problem in your engine and he could not go out shooting again.

See what time Free Practice 2 is:

*After the results and photos, the most complete summary

2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Free Practice 1 (FP1) Results

Free Practice 1 (FP1) Summary of the 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix

Due to the nature of the Monte Carlo street circuit, which is completely different from the rest of the circuit on the calendar, as soon as the traffic lights turned green for the first time all weekend during Free Practice 1, all the cars hit the tarmac to begin the search for the perfect setup.

The favorites quickly climbed to the top of the table with Verstappen leading with his time of 1:26.625, shortly before Norris improved that time to drop to 1:15.294, with the Furos, unlike the Dutchman who had the media, being the only ones near. with Piastri and Ricciardo.

Although a few drops of rain fell, it was not enough to stop the drivers and in fact the times continued to drop, as demonstrated by Leclerc with a time of 1:14.521, which put him ahead of the two McLaren drivers.

The first fear in Sainte-Dévote was Nico Hulkenberg, who immediately went on the run to avoid serious problems. At the same time, Leclerc improved even further and achieved a time of 1:14.238. Meanwhile, behind Alpine, Sauber, Haas and RB took the second page of the table.

After the first quarter of FP1, Verstappen set the first 1:13 of the weekend with a 1:13.974 after touching the walls, forcing him into the pits to check the car. The first real problems came from Pierre Gasly, who, due to an engine problem and “no power” on the radio, was forced into the garage much earlier than expected and never took to the track again.

Norris bettered the Dutchman’s time soon after, before Leclerc regained first place with a time of 1:13.132, 0.362 seconds ahead of his teammate. Alonso, for his part, entered the pits after moving up to eighth place, 1.2 seconds off the fastest time of 1:14.543.

Midway through FP1, Verstappen returned to the tarmac and improved his time in the mids, but he was 0.344 seconds behind the local Ferrari driver’s best time, with Hamilton close by 0.165 seconds. In turn, Alexander Albon became the second pilot to visit the famous Sainte-Devote loophole.

Alonso, Ricciardo and Piastri were the first brave men to use soft tires at Monaco, but the McLaren driver was 0.492 seconds behind Leclerc and the Spaniard 0.648 seconds behind. However, on the second lap on red tyres, Piastri achieved a 1:12.618, which allowed him to move up to first place.

Behind them, the rest of the drivers quickly began to perk up and Russell was the first to better the Australian’s time with a time of 1:12.295, although the McLaren driver recovered again with a time of 1:12.198. Meanwhile, Hamilton was third by 0.2 seconds and Alonso was fourth, much further back, by 0.850 seconds, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and his RB, also on softs.

With a different program, Ferrari and the Red Bulls continued with average results, although this did not stop Leclerc moving up to third on the time table, 0.199 seconds behind Piastri, before seeing Hamilton move up to first position on the time table. from 1:12.169.

With 10 minutes remaining, Guanyu Zhou hit a wall at the exit of Sainte-Devote and damaged his car, leaving carbon fiber residue on the asphalt, causing the first red flag of the weekend on the streets of Monte Carlo. .

When the green flag returned, some drops began to fall, but all riders took to the track again, although very few did so on soft tires and virtually none improved their times. Finally, neither Ferrari nor Red Bulls drove on the red track, so their positions were clearly unrealistic. In addition, Cheko suffered a puncture in the last minutes.