Free practice at the Monaco Grand Prix | Verstappen stumbles then recovers in front of the Ferraris

(Monaco) Championship leader and favorite for the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) once again honored his rank after the first free practice on Friday, despite a lackluster day that left him will have a time seen relegated behind the Ferraris.

In the narrow streets of the Principality, the day had started rather badly for the reigning double world champion, who notably complained of clutch problems and a difficult to drive RB19, failing in an unusual 6th place on the time sheet.

But later in the afternoon, the weather conditions were ideal for “Mad Max” to pick up the pace: in front of the many yachts moored in the port of the Principality, the Dutchman came to take the best time of the second session of trials.

Friday evening, he was a short head ahead (65/1000) of the Ferrari of Monegasque Charles Leclerc, who dreams of winning his first victory here at home. The other Ferrari, that of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, took the 3rd time despite going off the road at the end of the 2nd session.

“Compared to Ferrari, the handling is still insufficient”, especially in the turns, Verstappen tempered. “We have to work on that before tomorrow, because we are still very close to them, we will need more for qualifying (Saturday, editor’s note) in order to stay ahead”.

His Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez – winner of the GP in 2022 – had a more difficult day, finishing in 7th place after taking the 4th fastest time in the first practice session.

“It was not a very good day today in terms of pace,” lamented the Mexican, provisional second overall.

On Saturday, Verstappen and company will be able to make the final adjustments to their single-seaters during free practice 3 from 11 a.m., before qualifying from 5 p.m., which is particularly important in the narrow streets of Monaco where overtaking is difficult. They will be all the more important as the rain could come to the race on Sunday.

This first day was an opportunity for Mercedes to show off the new look of its W14, now equipped with pontoons – the team having definitively abandoned its “zero pontoon” concept introduced last year at the dawn of the new technical regulations, but having kept him at a distance from the top of the hierarchy.

The Brackley (UK)-based team also installed a new floor and a new front suspension to, among other things, “improve the aerodynamics slightly”.

“We hope this shakes things up a bit,” said Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin, “although Monaco is not the place” to measure how well these upgrades perform against the competition. .

At the end of this day of adjustments in the streets of Monaco, the Silver Arrow of Lewis Hamilton finished 6th on the time sheet, that of George Russell 12th.

The eight-time constructors’ world champion, who has performed so well in recent years, has struggled to get back to the forefront since the start of the 2022 season and now finds herself well behind the overpowered Red Bulls.

It is currently the 3rd provisional force on the field in the championship behind Red Bull and Aston Martin, whose driver Fernando Alonso, 3rd in the championship behind the two Red Bull drivers, finished 4th in FP2, having taken 2nd time earlier in the ‘afternoon.