Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has gone fastest in Free Practice 1 ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Mexican set a time of 1:12.536, just 0.119s ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Teammate Max Verstappen was third with a 1:12.648, just a tenth off Perez’s time. Perez’s time was set on the soft tyres with Verstappen setting his best on the medium compound.
Sainz however topped the session early on setting some quick laps on the medium tyres. The Spaniard did spend some time in the pits after clipping the wall and needing to come in for damage checks.
Home hero Charles Leclerc spent less than ten minutes on track at the beginning of the session. The Monegasque had to return to the pits with a gearbox failure and was unable to rejoin.
Pierre Gasly set the fourth fastest time in his Alpha Tauri, however it was a quieter morning for the Mercedes team with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas down in fifth and sixth, both separated by just a tenth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was in seventh ahead of four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin.
Yuki Tsunoda rounded off a good morning for Alpha Tauri setting the ninth fastest time, but the Japanese driver was 0.8s off his teammate.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, who had a lockup into Turn 1, rounded out the top ten.
Results (Classification):
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull 1:12.487
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari +0.119
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull +0.161
- Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri +0.442
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes +0.508
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes +0.644
- Lando Norris, McLaren +0.749
- Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin +1.245
- Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri +1.259
- Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo +1.594
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +1.603
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo +1.619
- Fernando Alonso, Alpine +1.718
- Nicholas Latifi, Williams +1.781
- Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren +1.794
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine +1.833
- Nikita Mazepin, Haas +2.129
- Mick Schumacher, Haas +2.314
- George Russell, Williams +2.353
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +7.131
