Formula 1: Ferrari crashes in Monaco practice

The world champion at Red Bull had the best time of the day in free practice, but at 1:12.462 he was just a hair’s breadth ahead of Charles Leclerc in Ferrari.

The two were separated by 65 thousandths of a second, and Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari was only tenth behind Verstappen in third. However, the Spaniard, who set the fastest time in the first free practice, had to leave the second session early.

After a driving mistake, Sainz touched the wall first, breaking the right front wheel suspension. After that, the 28-year-old could only watch helplessly as his Ferrari crashed into the next wall. Bad luck: Sainz, who had already caused an injury scare in the build-up to the Monaco GP, was able to give a clear signal directly to the pits via radio. “I’m fine. Sorry,” he informed his team.

Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin (+0.220) was fourth. However, the Spaniard had to abandon the fast game that could have given him a better time.

The weekend did not start very promisingly for Nico Hülkenberg and his Haas racing team. After a crash in the first practice session, the German finished Friday one second behind the leaders in 15th place, with team-mate Kevin Magnussen only slightly faster.

Verstappen hopes to compete at the top in the sixth race of the season on Sunday (from 3pm on SPORTS 1-Liveticker) to the end of the Red Bull series: So far, the world championship leader and teammate Sergio Perez have won every race, but that should change on the road circuit. Ferrari and Aston Martin work well in the slow corners, Red Bull is also denied a speed advantage on the long line in Monaco.

Friday showed that Red Bull can also be expected in Monaco – however, the lead is narrow, with Ferrari was before the important qualifying session on Saturday (from 4 pm SPORTS 1-Liveticker) Alonso within striking distance. Red Bull also struggled at times with the vote, Perez was only seventh.

Meanwhile, Mercedes used its redesigned car for the first time. The new cues are obvious, and the former world series champions have also revised the lower part and front wheel suspension. It was enough for Lewis Hamilton to finish sixth, while his teammate George Russell was only twelfth.

By Sports Information Service (SID)