The local hero looks to be on the money as Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets in all three free practice sessions ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. His clean sweep came in spite of a crash in FP1. Having moved out of the way for Kimi Antonelli, a slow-moving Lance Stroll inadvertently swerved into the path of the oncoming Leclerc, causing him to hit the barrier at the Loews Hairpin. The incident cost Leclerc his front wing and earned Stroll a one-place grid penalty.
In contrast to his teammate, Lewis Hamilton had a varied free practice. One that ranged from the lows of impeding Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz and bouncing over the kerbs at the swimming pool section in FP1, to setting the third fastest time in FP2, to crashing at Casino Square in FP3. The seven-time world champion ended the final session fifth overall. Having been complaining of rear instability throughout and subsequently incurring a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in FP3.
Pierre Gasly was another driver hindered by traffic, the Alpine driver getting stuck behind Hamilton in FP1 and Lance Stroll in FP2. Stroll’s teammate Fernando Alonso overshot the chicane in FP2, the two-time world champion dissatisfied with the number of drivers going off at turn ten, a trend he described as “so distracting”. Even so, Alonso was able to secure P7 at the end of the session.
In addition to his run-in with Hamilton at Beau Rivage, Verstappen had trouble with traffic throughout FP2 before taking to the runoff after going in deep at Mirabeau. Even so, the reigning world champion managed the second-fastest time in free practice 1 and 3. The latter of the two sessions also saw Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg lock up at the final corner and narrowly avoid the barriers.
Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar clipped the barriers at the Nouvelle Chicane in FP3 before running-wise at turn one. His teammate Liam Lawson found himself stuck behind Hamilton on more than one occasion while Oscar Piastri lost his front wing in a head-on collision with the barriers at turn one.
McLaren looks to be the nearest challenger to Leclerc with at least one of their drivers securing top three times in each of the free practice sessions. Of the two, it was Oscar Piastri who got the closest to Leclerc, the championship leader clocking a time of 1.11.393 in FP3, just 0.038s off the home favourite.
Williams’ strong form looks set to continue once again. The Grove-based squad encountered little drama as Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz graced the top ten in two out of the three sessions. The only minor disruption was a run-in between Sainz and Hamilton in FP1.
On the whole, McLaren looks to have the edge in terms of pace. Hamilton’s grid penalty has ruled him out of the running for pole position, but with his teammate up at the front throughout free practice, qualifying looks set to be a shootout between perennial rivals McLaren and Ferrari.
