Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas set the initial pace with a 1m 26.993s, but a series of faster times by Zhou Guanyu, Fernando Alonso, Hamilton and Lando Norris quickly surpassed that, Because by the end of the race, the benchmark for first place was 10 seconds lower than the opening five minutes of the one-hour session.

Alonso and Norris swapped places at the front, the latter and the two Ferrari drivers being the only ones to use the medium for the first couple of laps, while everyone else was on the hard, as they have at each Tour Both gain confidence and benefit from the lay of F1 rubber on tight, twisty city tracks.

Just five minutes later, Charles Leclerc’s second fly put him ahead of Sainz in 1m15.931s, who hit a barrier in the second part of the pool, but was aboard his The Ferrari escaped uninjured and then faked a lead of 1m15.198s.

Ten minutes into the second, Leclerc regained the lead with a time of 1m 15.037s after a brief trip to the Ferrari garage, while his team-mate continued to ram around without interruption.

Leclerc’s next trapeze lowered the benchmark to 1m 14.562s before Sainz finished the opening 20 minutes fastest with a 1m 14.401s before he beat it in 1m 14.245s before Head to the pits with most of the other riders.

At this stage, Alonso was third with Verstappen fourth and failed to match the Ferrari driver’s high early lap time after pitting ahead of the Ferrari driver for a set-up change, who complained about his early The setup led him to worry that the bottoming out was too much for him to “be shunted”.

After a brief pause, more drivers began to use the medium-speed car for the first time. Hamilton once used the medium-speed car to run out of 1 meter and 14.035 seconds, ahead of the Ferrari team.

Verstappen also used the medium to gain time, but after two flights he still hadn’t surpassed Sainz’s previous benchmark as he reported that the Red Bull’s adjustment hadn’t improved his ride and felt like it was “still doing the same over bumps Things – really bad”.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-23, suffers rear puncture on track

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

He was told he might have to live with the problem until more substantive changes were made ahead of FP2, while George Russell complained he couldn’t get his tires to work properly on his updated Mercedes W14, Let his rear wheel slide too much – The Briton languished outside the top 10 heading into the final 25 minutes.

Just as Alonso moved up to second, just 0.064 seconds behind Hamilton’s lead time in the medium-speed car, the race was halted after Nico Hulkenberg crashed at the tunnel exit chicane.

The Haas driver, sitting at the top of the standings, crashed over the inside barrier of the first section of the complex at the foot of the hill leading to Monaco’s harbour, his left rear tire popped off the rim and he spun as he made his way through the complex. When in the middle.

While Hulkenberg was able to escape and slowly made his way back to the pit lane, the segment was red flagged for three minutes while recovering from the incident debris.

FP1 restarted with 20 minutes remaining and Alonso was first after the restart with a time of 1m 13.907s, just behind Perez in third and ahead of Sainz’s early lead time.

The Ferrari drivers finally re-emerged minutes before the red flag, still on neutral tyres, but not bothering the times leader as much as they had in the early stages.

That changed when Sainz returned to first place 0.058 seconds ahead of Alonso in 1:13.690, heading into the final 10 minutes.

Alonso then closed the gap to 0.020s, and just after he was enraged by Perez sprinting down the track through Casino Plaza, Sainz’s next pilot closed him down to 0.338s, his The score is 1 meter 13.372 seconds.

There was no further improvement as Alex Albon then crashed badly at St Devote and was red-flagged again – the Williams driver lost his rear end midway through the first corner on the right before smashing his front and rear wheels into a barrier.

With just over three minutes to go and the race not restarting, Albon reported that he was fine but “hit my knee” in the impact.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR23

Photography: Simon Galloway/ motorsport pictures

Perez and Leclerc were followed by Perez and Leclerc, who shrugged off a personal best lap after locking up the corner before the red flag, then went on to Two parts lost the Ferrari’s rear end of the pool.

Verstappen, who finished fifth, also had a major moment of slippage in that position late in the race – the world champion gesticulating angrily as he drifted away and through the final turn of the track.

Norris was seventh ahead of Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, who later climbed the leaderboard and was the other driver to hit the wall – the Aston driver did so in the final corner as he was heading towards the The middle section of FP1 goes straight into the station.

Albon made it into the top 10 and was able to retain his spot due to his split, while fellow Williams driver Logan Sargeant was 18th and had to crawl back with problems with the rear of his car just before the halfway point. to the maintenance station.

In the other Mercedes, Russell finished 15th.

F1 Monaco Grand Prix: FP1 Results