F1 Monaco GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Friday's action from the eighth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
F1 returns to Monaco for its annual dash around the principality, where all the focus will be on what is arguably the most important qualifying session of the season.
With the gap between Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari appearing to shrink with the latest raft of updates and the walls waiting to claim unsuspecting drivers, the pressure will be high not to make a mistake.
FP1 starts at 12:30 BST (13:30 local time) followed by FP2 at 16:00 BST (17:00 local time).
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As the drivers, all 20 of whom are on the track already, get used to the layout, medium and hard tyres are the order of the day. That will change soon enough though.
With Monaco being comfortably the shortest lap on the calendar, the laptimes are already coming, with Magnussen setting the first effort of a 1m16.766s.
Gasly endured a difficult opening session with power unit problems keeping him in the garage for much of the time. Alpine will be looking to make up for lost ground in the coming hour.
It is worth remembering that there is more than just F1 going on this weekend. Enjoying a change of scenery, Karun Chandhok is taking in one of the other great motorsport spectacles!
With the threat of rain for FP2, some teams went onto the soft rubber earlier in the day than they would have liked, but Red Bull was not among that number and Verstappen and Perez fell out of the top 10 as a result.
Lewis Hamilton lead the way in FP1 in somewhat of a surprise as he ran the old front wing, although team-mate George Russell was also on the pace with the upgraded part.
Time for a quick spot of lunch, sadly we aren't heading down to Cafe de Paris because it is fully booked (probably), but never fear, we'll be back in action ahead of FP2 that starts at 4pm BST. Until then, go well!
Sargeant and Leclerc also have time for a near-miss into the Nouvelle chicane as the Ferrari driver fails to spot the dark Williams coming out of the tunnel.
The chequered flag is out, but Gasly gets just enough time to complete a lap having had his Alpine repaired. He remains 20th and last, but it is positive that he got back out before the end of the session.
"The car is so loose on the bumps, so any correction with engine braking or brake bias is just making it all worse," Verstappen reports, kindly demonstrating my point.
Leclerc carried Zhou’s debris all the way to the hairpin where it came loose and ended up underneath the barriers. It was recovered by the marshals during the red flag.
A pitlane incident between Magnussen and Tsunoda has been noted for failing to follow race director orders. Magnussen nipped out ahead of Tsunoda when the session resumed but it looked like no harm done despite the Japanese driver stating "that's a penalty".
That red flag has rather disrupted the rhythm of the session, with a big split in what tyres each driver is on for the final part of FP1. Verstappen, on mediums, doesn't look like he'll show a glimpse of Red Bull's true pace.
And of course this is the time the rain decides to make its entrance. Nothing too serious to stop running at the moment, but just another factor to keep the drivers alert.
The red flag has been called for due to debris on track. Zhou clipped the outside wall coming out of Sainte Devote, losing part of his front wing, which was collected by Leclerc with the debris clattering his car floor.
Having led the earlier running, Leclerc has shifted on to the mediums, rather than the softs like most others, and goes third quickest - within two-tenths of Piastri's leading lap time.
Hamilton has moved up to second with a 1m13.297s on the medium tyres. A few drivers have switched to softs for the first time in this session to get a feel for what will be the most popular compound this weekend.
Verstappen splits the Ferrari 1-2 to go second with a 1m13.476s but says "the car is on a knife edge" over team radio. He was about a knife's width from hitting the barriers.
Most drivers are already finding the limits around the track and having a few lock ups and near-misses with the walls. Yesterday the drivers explained it is about building the speed through every session to get it all perfect for qualifying. Nobody wants to bin it early and it wreck their weekend.
