First training in Monaco: What did they show?

After a year’s break, we are back again. The first training sessions started in Monaco and brought quite interesting findings. We also saw an accident and witnessed the red flags being raised.

It’s been clear for some time that the Red Bull is the ideal car for the more technical tracks, but this is even more true for the Monte Carlo track. In fact, Sergio Pérez won the first practice session and showed how not only Red Bull, but Pérez in particular, could perform at this circuit. At least that’s what the first practice session suggested.

In the last race at the Catalunya circuit, Max Verstappen was noticeably absent from the front of the grid, and that was one of the reasons why Mercedes came a little closer to success again. In this Grand Prix, however, things could be different. It was Verstappen who completed his teammate in the top three after the first practice session.

Between them, Carlos Sainz and his Ferrari were on the results list after P1 (Practice One – author’s note). For the time being, it is perhaps the Maranello stable that is doing best in the Principality of Monaco. Charles Leclerc did not finish P1 due to technical problems, but the order after the second practice was as follows

It should be noted that we haven’t seen both Ferrari cars at the front of the grid for a long time, let alone together. Although these are only the first practice sessions and only the third and the subsequent qualifying will show us the true state of mind, we can already rely on these performances.

By contrast, traditionally, it was only the McLaren that got going in P1 and P2. Lando Norris finished in the second half of the top ten each time, Daniel Ricciardo even far outside the top ten drivers.

Who unfortunately is not doing well in Monaco is Alpine. Fernando Alonso damaged his front wing in P1 by hitting the barrier at the last corner. His teammate Esteban Ocon didn’t impress in practice either (16th and 14th).

Thanks to the performances of Ferrari and Red Bull, the spotlight has kind of turned away from Mercedes, but let’s not be fooled. First of all, Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton are very marketing savvy, as evidenced by the British driver’s perpetual claims of dissatisfaction on his monopost just during practice sessions. But we all know the course of the subsequent qualifying and race.

Well, and secondly, it simply cannot be assumed that the performance of this stable will be similar later in the race weekend. After P1, Hamilton was fifth on the results list ahead of Valtteri Bottas, with the seven-time world champion third in the second practice session and the Finnish driver finishing fifth.

The woes continue for Haas. Mick Schumacher failed to control his car at Turn 3 and ended up in the wall, damaging his right front wheel suspension. The talented German was subsequently unable to get his car back into the pits, and he pitted in the escape zone behind the Nouvelle chicane.

Red flags were displayed for this incident and the second practice session was left incomplete.

However, despite the good positioning of the two Red Bulls after P1, the drivers of this stable do not have much faith in the front row at the start. Mexican Pérez had this to say. We need to do a lot of work and get quicker to break into the front row. We need to see what changed between the first and second practice. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it and be in the game tomorrow.”

“I’m enjoying it here, it’s a fantastic track. The first practice was great, unlike the second one, I felt good in the car. I think we gathered a lot of information before qualifying. We just need to accelerate with a small amount of fuel.”

We’ll see what P3 and especially qualifying brings. The third and final practice session starts at 12::00 on Saturday. Three hours later, we will have a hard qualifying session.

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