Hamilton Tops Monaco GP Free Practice as Zhou Guanyu Causes Brief Interruption

Lewis Hamilton, the British driver of Mercedes AMG F1 W15, set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton clocked a time of 1:12.169s on soft tires before a brief interruption caused by Zhou Guanyu of Sauber, who brushed the barriers at Sainte Devote. Although Zhou’s car was not damaged, debris from the advertising banners on the barriers ended up on the track and were hit by Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. Hamilton’s lap was 0.029s faster than Oscar Piastri of McLaren. George Russell and Lando Norris, Hamilton’s teammates, finished in third and fourth place, respectively. Ferrari impressed with their lap times on the harder tire compounds, with Leclerc finishing in fifth and Carlos Sainz in tenth. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez of Red Bull also chose not to use the soft tires and finished in seventh and eighth place. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll secured sixth and seventh place for Aston Martin, while Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo finished in eighth and ninth place. Esteban Ocon of Alpine had a challenging start to the weekend, finishing in 18th place, while Pierre Gasly had a slow session due to a problem with the pressure relief valve.
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