During the practice session, Leclerc was consistently leading. He started with the fastest time and kept improving, showing he had an early advantage.
In less than 10 minutes, he broke the earlier fastest time set by Max Verstappen. Leclerc set a time of 1 minute and 12.372 seconds on medium tires.
As the session continued, Leclerc kept lowering his lap times. He went faster with times of 1 minute and 12.260 seconds and then 1 minute and 12.125 seconds, all on medium tires.
Then, he achieved a remarkable time of 1 minute and 11.573 seconds, still using medium tires. Other drivers tried to catch up by using softer tires, but Leclerc remained ahead.
Verstappen, using soft tires, got closer but still couldn’t beat Leclerc’s time. However, he touched the wall with his car’s rear, interrupting his attempt to improve his lap time. This happened to many drivers as they navigated the tight Monaco circuit.
Despite Leclerc’s efforts to go even faster, he faced some challenges. He went slightly wide at one corner and had a wobble at another, so he focused on longer runs instead.
While Leclerc maintained his lead, the battle for second place was intense. Fernando Alonso briefly took second place from Verstappen, but then Lewis Hamilton surpassed them both with a time of 1 minute and 11.466 seconds.
Verstappen ended up in fourth place, dealing with a headache caused by his car’s bumpy ride. Behind him was Lando Norris from McLaren.
Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate, struggled to match his pace and ended up more than six tenths of a second behind. Sergio Perez improved from the earlier session and finished eighth.
It was a competitive practice session, with drivers pushing their limits on the challenging Monaco circuit.
