Ferrari again set the pace in practice. Leclerc more than six tenths clear of rivals

Opening practice for the Monaco Grand Prix belonged to the youngsters, with no fewer than ten regular drivers handing over their cockpits. The only team not to field a young driver was Ferrari, which set the fastest time of the opening hour of practice. Charles Leclerc was comfortably clear of the opposition.

Ferrari leads the unofficial practice championship this year and continued its strong Friday form in Mexico. It is therefore understandable that fans remain cautious. This time, however, things could turn out differently. Many consider the Scuderia the favourite because of the unique characteristics of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which sits 2,200 metres above sea level; a smaller turbo has an advantage here.

Moreover, the Italian team was not just quickest on softs. After the opening runs on hard tyres, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc led the way ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa. Ferrari will, however, need to establish why Hamilton could not put together a better lap on soft tyres. His theoretical best would have been good enough for second.

The Mercedes drivers split the Ferrari pair. The Silver Arrows were around seven tenths off the pace. Frederik Vesti produced an impressive performance, finishing less than a tenth of a second behind his team-mate and soon-to-be world champion.

Fifth place went to the aforementioned Iwasa on medium tyres, standing in for Max Verstappen in first practice. Isack Hadjar finished outside the top ten, partly due to power unit problems that hampered him in the opening part of the session.

Most of the youngsters failed to break into the top ten, allowing experienced midfield drivers to move up the order: Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso finished sixth and seventh ahead of Oscar Piastri. The Australian really had his hands full today, with several lock-ups and off-track excursions, something his temporary team-mate Fornaroli also experienced. McLaren must try to tame its car.

Hadjar was not the only driver to suffer technical problems. Freddie Slater had to stop his car after just six laps; the mechanics had forgotten to remove the cooling equipment before sending him out. For reasons that remain unclear, Slater spent around another 40 minutes in the garage.

Jak Crawford was forced to park his car beyond Turn 1 after a failure in the electrical part of the power unit. Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov also had a disrupted session, reporting that his right leg was going numb while driving. On returning to the garage, he could not even climb out of the cockpit unaided, but circulation returned to his leg shortly afterwards and he was able to rejoin the session.

Colton Herta finished last but achieved his objective. The American driver’s priority was to complete 100 kilometres and secure the final point he needed to reach the 40 required for a super licence. If Cadillac wishes, it can now officially confirm Herta for a race seat in 2027 — although it will probably have to reach an agreement with Bottas. The Finn insists he has a signed contract.

Finally, Valtteri Bottas will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after Cadillac changed his power unit.