Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 at Monaco Grand Prix practice
5th June 2026Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has topped the opening practice session of his home race weekend, Monaco Grand Prix, as Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar crashed halfway through the session.
Feature image credit: Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool
Practice ignited the Monaco weekend in dramatic style with Leclerc taking the fastest lap in the opening hour, but without problems.
Firstly, Leclerc struggled to get to grips with his car in the opening moments of the session. The Monegasque locked up on his first out lap, diving into the escape road at turn five. From there, Leclerc suffered moments of oversteer as he tried to tackle his home track.
However, when things started to gel together, Leclerc was able to put in some competitive times, and it wasn’t long before he challenged for the fastest lap of the session. When the hour came to a close, the Ferrari driver was able to put his Ferrari on the top of the timing boards with a 1m 13.978s.
He was quickly followed by his teammate, and seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who finished two-tenths behind his teammate, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rounding out the top three.
But the session was red-flagged halfway through as Hadjar crashed into the barrier on the exit of the swimming pool chicane, heading towards Rascasse. The Frenchman suffered a late slide, which was too late for him to rescue, and he was powerless to avoid the barrier.
As a result, the Red Bull driver nose-dived into the techpro before spinning around with significant damage to his car. Thankfully, he was okay after the incident and soon returned to his garage.
The Red Bull sister team, Racing Bulls, had their own share of problems after both Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad reported issues with their steering in the early moments of the session. Both their drivers reported that there was not enough steering lock coming from their cars, as they applied full lock on the wheel as they rotated around the iconic Monaco hairpin.
The session was later red-flagged, late on with only a handful of minutes left, after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso tapped the barrier on the entry to the Neuville Chicane. Coming out of the tunnel, Alonso’s car snapped on his under braking, which slapped its front wing against the barrier.
Alonso was able to return to the pits, but the session had to be briefly red-flagged to allow the marshals to retrieve the damaged piece from the middle of the track. It restarted with less than a minute on the clock.
The stewards are set to be a bit busy in between the two practice sessions at the Monaco Grand Prix. There are two impeding incidents between Leclerc and Lawson, Lindblad and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Additionally, Lawson was noted for going through the pit exit whilst it displayed a red light.
We’ll keep you up to date on those developments when they come in.
FP1 results:
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1m 13.978s
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +0.226s
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing +0.513s
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +0.559s
- George Russell, Mercedes +1.005s
- Lando Norris, McLaren +1.313s
- Nico Hulkenberg, Audi +1.365s
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren +1.587s
- Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +1.772s
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine +1.85s
- Alexander Albon, Williams +2.011s
- Carlos Sainz, Williams +2.063s
- Isack Hadjar, Red Bulls +2.17s
- Sergio Perez, Cadillac +2.192s
- Franco Colapinto, Alpine +2.211s
- Oliver Bearman, Haas +2.314s
- Esteban Ocon, Haas +2.355s
- Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls +2.411s
- Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +2.453s
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +2.7s
- Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +3.482s
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +3.578s
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Why the Monaco Grand Prix Two-Stop mandate failed
- Charles Leclerc extends contract with Ferrari ahead of Monaco GP
- Fernando Alonso urges more “top F1 drivers” to compete in other series
- From heartbreak to glory: Ricciardo’s iconic Monaco win
- Albon says bad luck struck again in Canada
- Sainz says Williams are “building some good momentum” after Canada recovery
- Hamilton encouraged after strongest Ferrari weekend yet
Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from ApexMotorsports.co.uk!
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
