At yesterday's press conference, Charles Leclerc said that a podium in Monaco no longer means anything to him, he is only driven by victory.
The first free practice session of the weekend began accordingly, as Leclerc immediately took the lead and couldn't be pushed away for a long time. The specially painted McLaren and Mercedes both looked quite capable, but the Red Bulls didn't really give it their all. The most memorable moment of the relatively uneventful practice session was when Guanyu Zhou slammed the Stake into the wall in the corner after the finish line, and a red flag had to be waved due to the scattered debris. Charles Leclerc was unlucky, he drove over it... In the end, the trio of Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and George Russell closed in on the lead, but of course it's not worth drawing long-term conclusions from all of this. The second run comes in the late afternoon, after which we'll be much wiser.
