For the first time in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix, the Formula 1 cars were on track on a Friday and Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz set the two fastest times of the day. As always in Monaco, the main purpose of free practice is to allow the drivers to do as many laps as possible to get into a rhythm around the street circuit, where the barriers are there to be brushed but always respected.
FP1. The two F1-75s spent the entire session running on the Medium tyre, each driver using two sets. Charles’ best time was a 1’14”531, which was seven hundredths quicker than Carlos, who stopped the clocks in 1’14”601. The two Ferrari men were split on the time sheet by Sergio Perez. The Ferrari duo completed a total of 57 laps, 29 for Leclerc and 28 for Sainz.
FP2. Both drivers started off on the Hard tyres for the second hour of free practice, with Charles posting a time of 1’14”255, while Carlos did a 1’14”451. After a red flag following a crash for Daniel Ricciardo, the Monegasque and the Spaniard went back out on track with Soft tyres, their best laps being 1’12”655 and 1’12”700, the quickest times of the day. In the final part of the hour, both drivers ran with a heavier fuel load with the F1-75s in race trim, using the Soft and Hard compounds. They did a total of 62 laps, 30 for Charles and 32 for Carlos.
Programme. The third free practice session takes place tomorrow at 13 CEST, in preparation for qualifying at 16.
Charles Leclerc #16
"It was great to see so many people around the track today, considering that it is only Friday. It really makes me look forward to the next two days and hopefully we can give our tifosi a good result. We had consistent running and completed a good number of laps. We still have to fine tune the balance but, all in all, it wasn’t too bad and we just need to make the usual step from Friday to Saturday now."
Carlos Sainz #55
"An encouraging day after completing our programme and performing well on track. Monaco is always a demanding track, but also a very exciting and fun circuit to push the car. Qualifying will be tight tomorrow by the looks of today, but so far we’re happy with the job we’ve done and the way we’ve been improving every time we went out on track. Now it’s all about the small details and finding the perfect balance for qualifying tomorrow."