If it’s true that the outcome of the Monaco Grand Prix is pretty much determined by the qualifying order, then Charles Leclerc has already put his name forward, dominating the first day of practice for this the 70th edition of his home race to count for the Drivers’ World Championship. The Monegasque set the fastest time of the day during FP2 in 1’11”278, already quicker than last year’s pole time of 1’11”365 set by Max Verstappen. It was impressive to watch the Scuderia Ferrari driver improve on every run, while others seemed to struggle a bit more to find the limit in their cars. While showering praise on the quickest driver on track today, it’s only Friday and Monaco qualifying always throws up some surprises, especially as the margin for error is practically non-existent. Furthermore, the fact that five different teams are represented in the top five in FP2, all covered by just 675 thousandths of a second, shows how close the hierarchy is throughout the field. For the record, behind Leclerc are Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the McLaren.

THE DAY ON TRACK:
As is often the case in Monaco free practice, drivers tried to do as many laps as possible to build up confidence dealing with the unique challenges of this track. Between them, the 20 drivers covered 1180 laps, or almost four thousand kilometres, 3,937.66 to be precise. The most popular compound was the C4 (600 laps), followed by the C3 (314) and then the C5 (266).

Simone Berra: Chief Engineer:
“The day on track that’s just finished here in Monaco was a very busy one, with two hours of free practice for the Formula 1 teams, while the Formula 2 and Formula 3 categories, for which we are also the sole tyre supplier, put on an exciting show in qualifying. As for Formula 1, free practice did not throw up any great surprises. Here, it’s important for the drivers to lap continuously to get into a rhythm and find those last centimetres of track that represent the ideal line through the corners.

From a purely technical point of view, we saw the track get quicker and quicker with each passing lap and that could also be an important factor in qualifying, because conditions could change significantly from the beginning to the end of each phase of the session. The fact that today’s best time is already almost a tenth quicker than last year’s pole is a sign of the progress made with this generation of car, given that the tyres have remained pretty much the same as last year’s."

FORMULA 2
After free practice yesterday, it was time for qualifying, the field split into two groups on track with their lap times combined to decide the grid for the start of the Sprint and Feature Race. Richard Verschoor (Trident) secured his first Formula 2 pole in what was an exciting session. The Dutchman’s best lap of 1’21”238 in Group A means he will start Sunday’s feature race from the number one slot on the grid. Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) was quickest in Group B with a time of 1’21”310, a fraction slower, so the Frenchman will line up in second place, his first Formula 2 front row start this season.

P Zero Red soft and P Zero Purple supersoft are the two compounds available in Monaco. The track on the streets of the Principality has hardly changed in over 70 years and it boasts the lowest average lap speed of the season. Tyre wear is not an issue and the forces exerted on them are very low.

FORMULA 3
As usual here, the field was split into two groups. Gabriele Mini (Prema Racing) secured pole position in Monaco for the second year in a row, with a time of 1’23”942, set in Group A. In Group B Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix) was quickest in a time of 1’24”921. However, it has to be said that a red flag ended the session with less than a minute remaining, thus preventing several drivers from improving and possibly moving up the order of the combined classification. For the Monaco weekend, Pirelli has chosen the P Zero Red soft. The softest tyres in the Formula 3 range exhibit moderate degradation on the Principality track that is reasonably kind on tyres. Whoever does the best job of managing them will be the most likely to pull off some overtaking moves.