44 Lewis Hamilton, (GRB) AMG Mercedes Ineos during the Monaco GP, 23-26 May 2024 Montecarlo, Formula 1 World championship 2024.

Formula 1 News: Hamilton tops opening practice for Monaco GP

Before the rain sprinkles slowed the cars during the last 10 minutes of the session, Lewis Hamilton turned a lap of 1m12.169s in his Mercedes to top Practice 1 for the 2024 Monaco GP. On a track that is still rubbering in, Hamilton was 0.029s faster than Oscar Piastri’s McLaren

–by Mark Cipolloni–

All the top cars set their fast time on the Pirelli Soft Red Tires, except Max Verstappen down in 11th and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in 5th – both saving a set of soft reds for when it counts and working on race setups.

George Russell was 3rd in the 2nd Mercedes, 0.126s behind Hamilton.

Lando Norris was 4th quick in the #4 McLaren, 0.227s behind, while Leclerc rounded out the top-5 for Ferrari, 0.228s behind on the medium tires.

Sergio Perez broke his front tire rim, so looks like he kissed the walls somewhere.

Verstappen ran two sets of mediums tires in that session, Perez a set of the mediums and one of the hards. They seemed to be working on set-up and longer runs, but we might see some quick laps from them a little later on here.

Pierre Gasly lost most of the session with a turbo wastegate issue

So, Hamilton tops FP1 for Mercedes having run the soft tires. He completed 35 laps, the car looks pretty good here, and they do tend to go well through the slower speed stuff. Cause for optimism?! Let’s see how FP2 goes a little later on.

There’s always time for some drama here, and it comes to balking another car. Leclerc balked a rather irate Sargeant. Leclerc immediately apologized on the radio, confessing that he just couldn’t see the dark colored Williams in the tunnel.

2024 Monaco GP Practice 1 Results

Pos Driver Nat. Team Time
1 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 1m12.169s
2 Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m12.198s
3 George Russell GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 1m12.295s
4 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m12.396s
5 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari 1m12.397s
6 Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team 1m12.775s
7 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team 1m12.789s
8 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Visa Cash App RB F1 Team 1m12.875s
9 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Visa Cash App RB F1 Team 1m12.901s
10 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari 1m12.954s
11 Max Verstappen NED Oracle Red Bull Racing 1m12.984s
12 Sergio Perez MEX Oracle Red Bull Racing 1m13.229s
13 Valtteri Bottas FIN Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber 1m13.248s
14 Kevin Magnussen DEN MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 1m13.390s
15 Alex Albon THA Williams Racing 1m13.425s
16 Nico Hulkenberg GER MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 1m13.576s
17 Logan Sargeant USA Williams Racing 1m14.150s
18 Esteban Ocon FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m14.159s
19 Zhou Guanyu CHN Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber 1m14.570s
20 Pierre Gasly FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m15.574s