F1 News
REPORT: Sergio Perez fastest in FP1 at the Monaco Grand Prix
- Cameron Smith
Red Bull's Sergio Perez took the honours in FP1 at the historic Monaco Grand Prix. The Mexican driver set the fastest time of the session with a 1:12.536, which was enough to edge out Carlos Sainz in P2 and his teammate Max Verstappen in P3. Perez did complete his lap on the soft tyre, whilst Sainz and Verstappen were on the medium tyre. Although it was happy viewing for those three, one man suffered like he always does at this track, Charles Leclerc. What happened to the Ferrari driver?
Charles Leclerc's Monaco luck continues
In his home race, Charles Leclerc has never found himself on the right side of luck. He's never seen the chequered flag at Monaco and in FP1, he suffered a gearbox issue which ended his session.
At the time, he was running right at the top of the standings, but the issue happened after he had compeleted just four laps on the track.
His time of 1:19.618 was unsurprisingly the slowest on the grid.
Can his fortunes improve on Saturday and Sunday?
Could this be the performance Perez needed?
The Mexican has come under immense scrutiny since his move to Red Bull, and after failing to help Verstappen so far this season, he needs to improve.
A P1 finish in FP1 will certainly help, and he'll be desperate to translate that this form into an impressive qualifying session. His time of 1:12.536 went quickest with less than 10 minutes left, and nobody was able to better it.
He finished 0.161 seconds ahead of his teammate, and whilst he was on the quicker tyre, it won't matter to him. It's the first session he has topped this year, and with Mercedes in P5 and P6, Red Bull will be confident they can lock-out the front row.
Sainz looks great
Whilst his teammate Leclerc suffered a gearbox issue, Sainz looked quick all session long. He spent time at the top of the standings, before pulling out a 1:12.606 lap time in the final few minutes of FP1.
After a poor 2020 for Ferrari, the Prancing Horses have come back strong in 2021, and the early signs from Monaco are that they'll be right in the fight for P1.
By splitting the Red Bull's, and going faster than Verstappen on the same tyre, Sainz looks like he could seriously give Red Bull and Mercedes a problem this weekend.
Gasly impressive once again
The Frenchman is maturing into a very consistent driver, and his time of 1:12.929 was good enough to beat both the Mercedes cars. It did come on the soft tyre, but after leading the session for a large chunk, he'll take great confidence into this afternoon.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda ended his first session at the Monaco circuit in P9.
McLaren underwhelming
With Sainz looking so quick, McLaren will be wary that their place in P3 in the Constructors' Championship in under serious threat. Lando Norris ended the session in P7, with Daniel Ricciardo down in P15.
Norris complained of understeer throughout, whilst it was revealed that the team were using FP1 as a test session. It remains to be seen how much data they gathered, but both will need to go quicker this afternoon, Ricciardo in particular.
Disappointing for Russell
On Williams' 750th race weekend, George Russell surprisingly struggled and finished in P19, ahead of only the retired Leclerc.
His time of 1:18.840 was 0.039 seconds behind Mick Schumacher's in P18, whilst it was 0.572 seconds behind his teammate Nicholas Latifi in P14; and unusually poor session for the British driver.