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Formula 1 Monaco GP

F1 Monaco GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

Friday's action from the sixth round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

Atmosphere

F1 heads to its sixth round this weekend and its jewel in the crown, as the paddock takes to the streets of Monte Carlo. 

This should have been round seven on the calendar, but the weather emergency in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy led to last week's Imola event being cancelled. 

Red Bull will be looking to continue its run of 1-2 finishes in 2023, with Max Verstappen eager to strengthen his position as the championship leader following victory in Miami. 

Mercedes will take to the track with a massively upgraded car, ditching its 'zero-pod' design philosophy in the hopes of lifting itself up the grid. 

FP1 starts at 12:30pm BST on Friday, with FP2 at 4pm BST.

Live Standings

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Summary

  • Summary:
    • Verstappen tops FP2 for the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix by 0.065s from Leclerc's Ferrari
    • Sainz's crash at the Swimming Pool brings out red flags, but the FP1 pacesetter is still third-fastest ahead of Alonso's Aston
    • McLaren shows off Monaco special 'Triple Crown' livery, with Norris going fifth fastest ahead of Hamilton in the heavily-revised Mercedes
    • Albon gets on track for the final 10 minutes in rebuilt Williams after FP1-ending crash at Turn 1, ending up 19th
  • Leaderboard:

    1. Verstappen, Red Bull
    2. Leclerc, Ferrari
    3. Sainz, Ferrari
    4. Alonso, Aston Martin
    5. Norris, McLaren
    6. Hamilton, Mercedes
    7. Perez, Red Bull
    8. Bottas, Alfa Romeo
    9. Gasly, Alpine
    10. Ocon, Alpine

Live Text

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That's all for today. Thanks for your company, and we'll be back tomorrow for qualifying day in Monaco.
Here is the full report of FP2 for the Monaco GP: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-monaco-gp-verstappen-beats-ferraris-to-top-fp2-sainz-crashes/10473856/
The virtual safety car is being tested at the end of this FP2 session. From this weekend, double waved yellow flag rules have been tightened up to improve safety.
Tsunoda is being investigated after the session for speeding in the pitlane.
Checkered flag
Chequered flag is out as FP2 comes to an end with Verstappen fastest on a 1m12.462s.
Just five minutes to go in the session.
Stopwatch
Albon's first lap of the session is a 1m15.334s and puts him last.
Norris is currently fifth in this session behind Alonso, Sainz, Leclerc and Verstappen.
Norris is being told to "abort" his run as he responds that "something is wrong" with his car.
Albon has a bit of a slide through Turn 1 as he starts his first flying lap, but keeps well away from the barrier.
Albon is finally leaving the garage for the first time in FP2. He's out on a fresh set of softs.
Green flag
And we are back under way with just over 10 minutes to go.
The marshals have recovered Sainz's stricken Ferrari and the session will resume in a minute.
Just a few moments earlier, AlphaTauri's Tsunoda hit the barrier at Turn 10 and suffered a puncture.
Sainz says he's "all good" as he apologised to his team for the crash.
Replay shows Sainz hit the barrier on the right side on the way out of the Swimming Pool section and went straight to the wall.
Probably not the Ferrari we were expecting to see in the barrier this afternoon, but Sainz is out of the car with just over 15 minutes to go.
Red flag
Red flag is out as Sainz has crashed exiting the swimming pool.
Stopwatch
Turns out I was wrong about the Sainz lap. Verstappen and Leclerc have gone faster, the Red Bull on a 1m12.462s.
Alonso says he's "speechless with these guys", complaining about traffic - though, I technically don't think that makes Fernando genuinely speechless...
It's hard to see anyone challenging Sainz's 1m12.569s as the field looks to have switched to race running now.
Albon is climbing into his Williams after his team changed front and rear suspension, rear wing and gearbox. He'll get about 20 minutes of running under his belt if he's lucky.
Verstappen only third on that lap, 0.168s down. He got caught in some traffic through the tunnel. Rear-end also didn't look as planted as he would have wanted.
Verstappen is on his soft tyre lap and is 0.115s up on Sainz after the first sector.
Looked like quite a rough ride for Leclerc on that lap as his Ferrari bounced heavily along Monte Carlo's bumps.
Leclerc completes the lap and is third, 0.386s down.
Leclerc bleeds more time in sector two, 0.3s down.
Leclerc was 0.037s down in the first sector.
Leclerc starts his soft tyre lap in a bid to dethrone his Ferrari team-mate.
Stopwatch
Sainz hooks the lap together and goes top with a 1m12.569s.
Sainz is now on a lap on the soft tyres.
Hamilton moves to fourth on that lap, while Ocon has found himself in second in the Alpine. Alonso, meanwhile, misses out on beating his best by 0.088s.
With just over half an hour to go, Russell has moved up to second on his soft tyre lap.
Bottas has moved up to third on the softs now, 0.565s adrift of Alonso's best.
Stroll goes third on his soft tyre lap, though is over eight tenths shy of Alonso.
Stopwatch
Alonso blasts to the top of the order with a 1m12.786s, an improvement of nine tenths on his previous best.
Both Aston drivers are on fresh soft rubber, which should lead to some spicy lap times.
Stopwatch
Verstappen keeps up his push and is now down to a 1m13.312s. Team-mate Perez had a close moment with Sainz coming out of the tunnel and into the chicane.
Sainz's impressive hard tyre run continues and he's now into second, cutting Verstappen's lead down to 0.241s.
Stopwatch
Verstappen's moved the goalposts again with a 1m13.567s, lifting himself 0.305s clear of the field.

By: Autosport Staff

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