Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in red-flagged Monaco GP opening practice

Charles Leclerc topped the opening practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday, posting a 1m13.978s to lead a Ferrari 1-2 ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The session was halted twice by red flags, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar responsible for the second stoppage after sliding into the barrier at the Turn 15-16 chicane.

Ferrari arrived in Monaco as many pundits’ favourite, with the SF-26’s strength in slow-speed corners widely cited as an advantage around the tight street circuit. The Scuderia’s weekend had already generated significant off-track attention following confirmation of Leclerc’s new contract — a major storyline at the first European race of the season.

Leclerc’s own start to the session was far from smooth. Within the opening few minutes he locked up and ran into the Turn 5 escape road on hard tyres, the compound most teams chose early in the hour. Traffic congestion compounded matters on the narrow circuit, with Haas pair Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman frustrating each other in the opening exchanges.

Despite the chaos, Ferrari quickly established early pace, with Leclerc’s 1m14.928s putting him 0.182s clear of Hamilton and 0.508s ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third. Max Verstappen sat fourth, already 0.9 seconds off the pace and audibly frustrated, radioing that his tyres were “just dead”.

As teams switched to medium tyres around the halfway mark, Antonelli briefly took top spot with a 1m14.537s. Ferrari, however, had opted to keep its cars in the garage rather than make the early switch — a plan disrupted when Hadjar’s crash brought out the second red flag with 25 minutes remaining. It was the Red Bull rookie’s second retirement or incident in three weekends following his DNF in Miami.

Once the session resumed with 15 minutes left, Ferrari rejoined on mediums. Hamilton moved to the top with a 1m14.204s before Leclerc went sub-1m14s moments later, his 13.978s remaining unbeaten to the chequered flag. Verstappen ultimately split the two Silver Arrows to finish third, 0.513s off Leclerc’s benchmark, while Mercedes had no answer to Ferrari’s ultimate pace.