2026 F1 Monaco Grand Prix FP1 Results: Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2

Charles Leclerc led Ferrari 1-2 in twice red-flagged opening practice for the 2026 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, delivering the performance that pre-weekend speculation had predicted.

The Monegasque driver set the fastest lap of the session at 1:13.978 on medium tyres, finishing 0.226 seconds ahead of his seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton, while Max Verstappen rounded out the top three in his Red Bull, 0.513 seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark.

The one-hour session began at 1:00 PM local time and the opening minutes immediately revealed the challenges that characterize Monaco practice including traffic due to the extremely narrow track layout.

Charles Leclerc himself experienced a moment to forget within the first few minutes when he locked up entering the Turn 5 escape road while running on hard tyres, the compound that most teams had chosen for their initial installation laps.

Despite the early error, the Ferrari driver quickly recovered and began setting competitive times that would ultimately prove unbeatable.

The early pace was immediately established by Ferrari, with Leclerc posting a 1:14.928 that stood as the session’s first significant benchmark, 0.182 seconds quicker than Hamilton and 0.508 seconds ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes.

As the session progressed past the halfway mark, most teams began transitioning from hard tyres to medium rubber in preparation for their qualifying simulation runs.

Antonelli became the first to break Leclerc’s early benchmark, posting a 1:14.537 that was 0.471 seconds quicker than his teammate George Russell, who consequently moved up to third place on the timesheets.

Ferrari’s decision to stay in the garage was temporarily forced to continue for longer than planned when Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar crashed and triggered the session’s first red flag with 25 minutes remaining on the clock.

The French driver messed up his turn-in at the Turn 15-16 chicane which sent his RB22 sliding across the kerbs and slammed nose-first into the barrier, causing extensive damage to the front-end of his car while also ripping off the left-rear wheel.

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Hadjar was unharmed in the crash, his second in three weekends after retiring from the Miami Grand Prix, as the incident ended his FP1 running prematurely after completing only 14 laps.

Hamilton emerged from the pits first after the red flag and consequently took the top position on the timesheet with a 1:14.204, before Leclerc produced the lap of the session and became the first driver to break the 1:14 barrier with an impressive 1:13.978.

The second red flag of the session came with just three minutes remaining when Fernando Alonso lost control of his Aston Martin approaching the Nouvelle Chicane and made contact with the barrier on the outside, damaging his front wing in the process.

Alonso was able to recover his car to the pits with only front-wing damage and finished the session in 20th place, 2.7 seconds off Leclerc’s pace.

Max Verstappen, meanwhile, managed to jump ahead of both Mercedes cars in the final minutes, finishing third as Antonelli and Russell completed the top five.

McLaren struggled for pace throughout the session with reigning world champion Lando Norris finishing sixth, while his teammate Oscar Piastri took eighth as Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg split the papaya duo in seventh.

Full 2026 F1 Monaco Grand Prix FP1 Results