2021 Monaco GP, Ferrari first practice report: Carlos P2, gearbox issue for Charles. Ferrari first practice report.

Sergio Perez put Red Bull on top in Monaco, setting a best time of 1’12.487 as the chequered flag fell on the first practice session.

For Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc the bad luck on the streets of Monte Carlo unfortunately continue: just four laps into his Monaco Grand Prix weekend, the home favourite had already reported back to the pits with an issue. Charles has crashed in both his Monaco races so far in his Formula 1 career, and this was far from an ideal start to his Monaco weekend.

Ferrari confirmed that it was a gearbox problem on the SF21 which forced the Monegasque driver to miss out on the entire first practice session in Monaco, in the hope that the Maranallo team will be able to fix the issue until the second practice session on the streets of Monte Carlo.

No problems on the other Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz who therefore had the task of completing the parctice session by himself and gather useful information for the Italian side. The Spanish driver showed a good pace in the simulations from FP1 and finished the session in second position with a personal best lap time of 1m12.606s, just two tenths off Sergio Perez’s best lap time of the day so far.

Max Verstappen was third in the second Red Bull. Mercedes ended up fifth and sixth behind AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

Ferrari looking really good in Monaco so far, which makes it even more upsetting that Charles was forced to miss out important track time. But Charles will be encouraged by the car’s early pace around his home track.

Results from the opening practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix, Round 5 of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.