Ferrari Own Friday: Hamilton and Leclerc Lead Every Session at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix 2026 Practice

Ferrari owned Friday in Monaco. Charles Leclerc topped FP1 with a 1:13.978, Lewis Hamilton reversed the order in FP2 with a 1:13.026. Two sessions, two Ferrari drivers at the top, at a circuit the team came into the weekend tipped to be strong on. McLaren’s day split down the middle: Piastri ran a full programme, Norris stopped after eight laps and did not come back. Red flags in FP1, a Virtual Safety Car in FP2, Perez’s brake fire closing the afternoon early. The disruption kept Friday messy. The pace at the front did not look messy at all.

Key Points – F1 Monaco Grand Prix 2026 Practice

• Leclerc topped FP1 with a 1:13.978. Hamilton topped FP2 with a 1:13.026. Ferrari led both sessions
• Verstappen 0.168s off Hamilton in FP2, the only non-Ferrari inside two tenths of the benchmark across either session
• Russell fourth in FP2, Antonelli fifth. Neither Mercedes matched Ferrari’s pace across the day
• Norris stopped at the Nouvelle Chicane after eight laps in FP2, triggering a VSC. Piastri completed a full programme and finished seventh
• FP1 ended under two red flags: Hadjar into the barrier at Turn 15-16, Alonso into the wall in the closing minutes. Perez’s brake fire at Casino Square brought out the red flag in FP2 with five minutes left
• Hulkenberg and Bortoleto both finished in the top nine across both sessions. Audi’s most consistent Friday of the season

FP1: Leclerc Sets the Tone, Red Flags Shape the Session

Leclerc was quick early and quick when it mattered. He ran into the escape road at Turn 5 after locking up on Hard tyres in the opening phase, but that was a footnote against what followed. Ferrari posted a 1:14.928 in the first stint, Leclerc 0.182s clear of Hamilton, with Antonelli third and Verstappen already reporting that his tyres were dead. The session was fractured from the start. Traffic was an immediate factor on the shortest layout of the season, with Ocon and Bearman among those struggling to find clear air in the early running.

As the session reached halfway, teams switched to the C4 Medium and lap times began to fall. Antonelli moved to the top with a 1:14.537, Russell climbed to third, and Ferrari held in the garage as work continued on both cars. Then Hadjar lost the RB22 through the Turn 15-16 chicane, bounced over the kerbs and into the barrier, bringing out the red flag with 25 minutes remaining. The session had been disrupted before the Soft tyre runs that define the order at Monaco had fully played out.

Ferrari returned on Mediums after the restart. Hamilton went briefly fastest with a 1:14.204, but Leclerc answered moments later to become the first driver into the 1:13s, posting a 1:13.978 to seal top spot. A second stoppage followed almost immediately when Alonso struck the barrier at the chicane, leaving debris on track and effectively ending the session before any further improvements could be made.

The final order had Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Antonelli and Russell in the top five. Norris sixth, Hulkenberg seventh ahead of Piastri, Bortoleto and Gasly rounding out the top ten. Hadjar thirteenth on 14 laps after his early exit. Stroll last, 3.578s off the pace.

FP2: Hamilton Goes Fastest, Norris Stops Early

Russell led the queue out at the start of FP2, most of the field heading out on C4 Mediums. Verstappen set the first representative time with a 1:15.993 before Ferrari moved ahead, Leclerc posting a 1:14.240 with Hamilton 0.066s behind. Verstappen briefly reclaimed the top with a 1:14.008 before Hamilton pushed below 1:14 with a 1:13.729, putting 0.279s between himself and the Red Bull.

Twelve minutes in, Norris pulled over at the Nouvelle Chicane and stopped. The Virtual Safety Car came out. Hadjar, who had missed the opening stint while repairs were completed on his car after the FP1 crash, had only just joined the session when the stoppage came. It cost both drivers clean running at a point in the session where the lap time picture was still forming.

Once the VSC cleared, Leclerc moved back to the top with a 1:13.613. He then came in after 15 laps on Mediums as others began switching to Softs. Antonelli’s first C5 lap was a 1:13.850. Verstappen went fastest with a 1:13.467. Russell’s first Soft run was abandoned after traffic in the final sector. He eventually found a clear lap but fell 0.048s short of Verstappen.

Hamilton then raised the bar clearly. A 1:13.026, more than four tenths clear of where the session had been sitting. Verstappen improved to 1:13.194 and Leclerc slotted into second with a 1:13.137, 0.111s behind his team-mate. The top three were covered by 0.168s. Ferrari occupied the top two positions, with Verstappen delivering Red Bull’s closest challenge of the weekend so far.

Perez brought out the red flag with five minutes left, stopping at Casino Square with smoke pouring from the front-right brake ducts. The car was recovered quickly and the session returned to green with two minutes remaining, but most drivers used the time for practice starts rather than timed laps. The order held.

Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Antonelli. Hadjar sixth after switching to Softs late and posting a 1:14.087. Piastri seventh, one thousandth of a second behind Hadjar. Hulkenberg eighth, Bortoleto ninth, Bearman tenth. Norris nineteenth on eight laps. Alonso twentieth. Stroll last again, 3.148s off Hamilton.

Coffee Corner Take

Ferrari have done exactly what the preview suggested they would. Two sessions, two fastest drivers, both of them in red. The smaller turbo advantage that was flagged before the weekend as Monaco-specific is showing up in the data. Leclerc and Hamilton are not just at the front, they are comfortable there. Neither lap that topped a session looked particularly scruffy, which suggests there may still be more time available. That is not a good sign for anyone trying to close the gap on Saturday.

Verstappen was 0.513s off in FP1 with a car he described as having dead tyres. In FP2 he closed to 0.168s off Hamilton’s benchmark on a circuit where Red Bull have no business being that close to the front. He is extracting something from the car that the setup does not fully explain yet. Whether that holds in qualifying, where a single clean lap at Monaco can flip the order, is the question.

Mercedes are in a difficult position. Russell fourth, Antonelli fifth. The W17 is not where Ferrari are across two sessions on two different compound runs. Russell’s first Soft run in FP2 was ruined by traffic. Antonelli was fifth both times. The overnight challenge for Mercedes is finding enough pace to join the Ferrari fight. Based on Friday’s running, that does not look straightforward.

McLaren’s Friday needs addressing before Saturday. Piastri completed a full programme and was seventh in FP2, around a second off Hamilton’s headline time. Whether that reflects McLaren’s true pace is something the team still need to answer on Saturday. Norris stopped after eight laps, barely ran, and ended up nineteenth. Eight laps is not enough data at a circuit where every tenth of qualifying preparation matters. Whatever the issue was, it needs to be resolved completely before FP3. A compromised Saturday morning at Monaco has a direct consequence on where you start the race, and there is very little you can do about grid position once qualifying is done.

Hulkenberg and Bortoleto finished in the top nine across both sessions. Audi are finding something at Monaco that the circuit seems to suit. Whether that translates to Saturday is a different question, but two sessions of consistent top-ten running from a team that has been working through reliability and pace problems earlier in the season is worth keeping a close eye on.

Saturday at Monaco is FP3 and qualifying. One session of preparation and then the lap that defines your race. Ferrari will start that session knowing exactly where they are. Almost everyone else is still finding out.