Monaco GP 2024: Lewis Hamilton goes quickest in FP1, Verstappen shockingly misses out of top 10

In the shocking turnaround at Monaco GP Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell dominated the first free practice session at Monte Carlo. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton clinched the fastest time at the sheet while Russell remained third fastest. 

Hamilton recorded the fastest lap with a time of 1:12.169, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was second with a gap of +0.029 seconds. Russell clinched third position with +0.126 seconds. Another McLaren driver Lando Norris clinched fourth position while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth on the sheet. 

Meanwhile, a horrible run in FP1 continues for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racings. With a gap of more than a second to Hamilton both Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished out of the top 10. They were the 11th and 12th fastest car during the session. However, everyone knows how Verstappen can turn the table and it will be interesting to see how he does it at Monaco this weekend. 

Charles Leclerc pulls out a red flag! 

In the last moments of the FP1 session, a red flag was shown. It happened after Zhou Guanyu hit the wall with his Sauber, scattering debris on the track. These pieces of carbon fibre have been sucked up by the floor of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. Leclerc quickly contacted his team to report the problem.

Soon, he was in pits along with others as it was the first red flag of the weekend. However, it was soon cleared by the marshals and the session once again began for the last 10 minutes of the First Free Qualifying session of the week. 

Here is the final result of FP1: