It was a sunny start to the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, and drivers didn’t waste any time. As soon as the session began, cars from Racing Bulls, Sauber and McLaren were already out on track. Home hero Charles Leclerc also joined early, with lots of fans cheering for him.

But things didn’t start well for the Ferrari driver. Just a few minutes in, Leclerc locked up his front-right tyre in Turn 5 and had to escape into the run-off area. Luckily, he was able to reverse and continue.

However, his session soon got worse. On his next flying lap, Leclerc crashed into Lance Stroll in Turn 6. Stroll was letting another car past and suddenly moved back onto the racing line right in front of Leclerc. The Ferrari hit the back of the Aston Martin. This caused damage to both cars and brought out the red flag. Debris from Leclerc’s front wing and the rear of Stroll’s car had to be cleared, stopping the session for about ten minutes.

Leclerc made it back to the pits with a broken front wing and damage to the floor of his car. Ferrari quickly fitted a new nose and floor so he could return later in the session. Stroll wasn’t so lucky as the crash damaged his rear suspension and gearbox, ending his session early.

When the session resumed, Lando Norris impressed with a fast lap, brushing the barriers to go fastest with a time of 1:13.6. Piastri followed close behind in second, and Leclerc jumped up to third on his first flying lap with the soft tyres.

There were some other small incidents. Verstappen got stuck in traffic, Lawson said he smelled something burning near his brakes, and Bortoleto blocked the reigning world champion, which was noted by the stewards. Carlos Sainz also had a moment at St Devote and had to reverse out of the escape road.

Hadjar then touched the barrier at the Swimming Pool section, forcing the Racing Bulls team to check his car. Hamilton had a dramatic moment too. When he was trying to avoid a slow car in the last second, he practically flew over the kerb. “I’ve just gone completely over the kerb,” he said on the radio.

With fifteen minutes left, Leclerc came into the pits again and told his team his front-left tyre felt “gone” and that something didn’t seem right with the car. He also complained about oversteer in some corners and understeer in others. But despite that, he went fastest with a lap of 1:11.964.

In the end, it was Charles Leclerc who finished fastest in front of his home fans, with Max Verstappen just 0.163 seconds behind in second place and Lando Norris taking third. Alexander Albon put his Williams into fourth, narrowly edging out Oscar Piastri, who settled for fifth in the second McLaren. George Russell took sixth for Mercedes, while Carlos Sainz followed in seventh in the second Ferrari. Pierre Gasly managed a solid eighth for Alpine, with Lewis Hamilton ending up ninth after his dramatic chicane moment. Rounding out the top ten was Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin, just under eight tenths off the pace.