HIGHLIGHTS: Enjoy the best action from Free Practice 1 in Monaco as Sainz leads the way and Albon crashes

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz headed Free Practice 1 at the Monaco Grand Prix from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, in a session punctuated by red flags after crashes for Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon.

Sainz clocked a 1m 13.372s around Monaco’s streets in the Ferrari SF-23, heading team mate and local boy Charles Leclerc by over seven-tenths of a second – Leclerc finishing fifth after having to abort a fast lap following a pair of mistakes, and sandwiched between the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and a frustrated Max Verstappen.

FP1: Sainz sets the pace ahead of Alonso and Hamilton in opening practice session in Monaco

Monaco is infamously a track that bites, though – and Hulkenberg found himself getting bitten on his first run out at the Principality since 2019, clipping the barriers on the entry to the Nouvelle Chicane and spinning. With the left-rear tyre damaged on his Haas VF-23, a red flag was flown for debris once Hulkenberg had limped back to the pits.

Then, with just a handful of minutes left on the clock, Williams driver Albon clattered into the barriers at the exit of Sainte Devote, bringing out a second red flag, with the session not restarting to leave Sainz on top.

Watch the highlights from FP1 for the Monaco Grand Prix in the video above.