Lewis Hamilton, the British driver of the 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 boards 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 third and fourth respectively. Ferrari impressed with their lap times on the harder tire compounds, with Leclerc finishing fifth and Carlos Sainz in tenth. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez of Red Bull also chose not to use the soft tires and finished seventh and eighth. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll secured sixth and seventh place for Aston Martin, while Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth and ninth. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon 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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