Ferrari recorded a shock one-two finish in the opening day of Practice for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc fastest ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez emerged fastest in the morning session but it was Ferrari who stole the headlines with a shock one-two finish in FP2, as teams and drivers battled to get to grips with the tight yet twisty streets of Monaco.
Haas’ Mick Schumacher however was the only casualty of the day’s running as an accident at Massenet caused FP2 to be red flagged with just under five minutes left.
Now, here is a full roundup of Thursday Practice across both sessions.
FP1
A frantic start to the session saw everyone head out on track for a mixture of medium to long runs, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc encountering a session-ending gearbox issue less than ten minutes into his home race weekend.
Up front, Sainz set the initial pace until Hamilton soon afterwards bettered his time twice, with the Spaniard swiftly posting a 1m 14.457 to snatch top spot back before going even quicker with 1m 13.639.
Several drivers including Hamilton and Max Verstappen who recovered from early traffic struggled to get within 0.5 seconds of Sainz’s best effort, until Hamilton went 0.016s shy in the 21st minute.
Verstappen eventually went top just before the half hour mark with a 1m 13.191 but Hamilton was the first to dip below the 73s barrier with 1m 12.995, which was bettered by Sainz just three further minutes later who went 0.030s quicker than the Brit.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly ran some qualifying simulation laps on the soft tyreand two minutes later went quickest overall with 1m 12.929.
With just 14 minutes of the session left, Verstappen went fastest with 1m 12.648 on mediums which was bettered seven minutes later by Perez on softs before Sainz eventually demoted Verstappen to third place for the opening practice session.
Perez however found further improvement at the flag to top the session with 1m 12.487, as just 0.161s split the Mexican, Sainz and Verstappen.
Gasly finished fourth ahead of Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris, Sebastian Vettel, Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Raikkonen who rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 12.487 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.119 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.161 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.442 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.508 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.644 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.749 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.245 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.259 |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 1.594 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.603 |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.619 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.718 |
| 14 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.781 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.794 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.833 |
| 17 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 2.129 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.314 |
| 19 | George Russell | Williams | + 2.353 |
| 20 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 7.082 |
FP2
Carlos Sainz was first driver straight out on track as several drivers quickly ventured out for their opening runs, with Norris setting the first representative lap time of 1m 15.399 on mediums.
Sainz however instantly displaced the Brit with a 1m 14.997 on hard tyres only to be instantly displaced by Leclerc, who coincidentally provided Verstappen with a tow to send the Dutchman fastest with a 1m 13.961.
Verstappen went on to improve on his next flier by 0.462s only for Hamilton to post a 1m 12.772 to go quickest before drivers switched to soft tyre qualifying simulations.
Bottas set the initial soft tyre pace with 1m 12.107 ahead of Hamilton and Antonio Giovinazzi, with Sainz displacing the Finnish driver with a stunning 1m 11.796 just four minutes later as Verstappen slotted into second.
Hamilton eventually found time to wind up 0.390s on the fastest time in third, as Leclerc found enough space to unleash a late effort on his third soft tyre flier to set a session-topping 1m 11.684 and complete a Ferrari one-two.
Race simulations soon afterwards were brought to a premature end after Haas’ Mick Schumacher collided with the inside barrier at Massenet, damaging his car before retiring at Nouvelle Chicane to cause a red flag which finished the session early.
Leclerc therefore finished quickest ahead of Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Norris, Gasly, Perez, Giovinazzi and Vettel. whilst AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was slowest overall after a mistake saw him fail to register a time on soft tyres.
Teams will now have a rest day on Friday as is traditional in Monaco with the action resuming on Saturday with FP3 and Qualifying.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 11.684 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.112 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.390 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.397 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.423 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.695 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.814 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.024 |
| 9 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.062 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.298 |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 1.381 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.491 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.511 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.515 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.573 |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams | + 1.825 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.909 |
| 18 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 2.723 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.732 |
| 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 3.145 |
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