Charles Leclerc overcomes early crash to edge Max Verstappen in Monaco GP practice opener

Home hero Charles Leclerc endured an eventful opening practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The session was only eight minutes old when Ferrari driver Leclerc, who won this event last year, was involved in the first incident of the weekend.

Approaching the Loews Hairpin, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll moved off the racing line to allow by Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes. At slow speed, and in moving back across to sweep around the left-hand curve, Stroll was hit from behind by Leclerc.

The hit severely damaged the front wing on Leclerc's Ferrari, sending debris across the track and sparking a six-minute red-flag period to allow the surface to be cleared.

For Stroll, however, it was the end of his running due to rear suspension damage and the need to change the gearbox. The Canadian has also been summoned to see the stewards for causing a collision.

Leclerc managed to return to the garage, despite half of the wing lodged underneath the car. Despite additional complaints over the radio at times over the performance of his car, the Monégasque still posted the quickest lap time of 1:11.964s, finishing 0.163s clear of four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen in his Red Bull.

McLaren's Lando Norris was third fastest, 0.326s shy of Leclerc, and 0.024s ahead of Williams' Alex Albon.

Hamilton goes flying

At the very early stage of Leclerc's incident with Stroll, Ferrari team-mate Hamilton held sway with a lap of 1:14.576s but it was nothing more than an sighter as lap times tumbled once the session resumed.

By the half-hour mark, McLaren's Lando Norris topped the timesheet with a 1:12.290s, only for Leclerc to soon take over with a 1:11.964s, even though several minutes earlier he had complained about "being nowhere" and struggling with understeer through certain corners.

Naturally, with it being Monaco, there were minor skirmishes that saw Williams's Carlos Sainz and Norris take to the run-off at Ste Devote as the limits were explored.

There was a hair-raising moment for Hamilton with around 16 minutes remaining, Powering up the hill, as the seven-time champion flew over its brow, he was forced to take weaving action with two slower cars ahead of him.

Soon after, Leclerc returned to the pits. Over the radio, he complained his "front left has gone", and that "there is something wrong with the car". Regardless, he again returned to continue on with his programme.

In an eventful session for Ferrari, on another flying lap for Hamilton, coming out of the swimming pool complex, he encountered his replacement at Mercedes, Antonelli.

Hamilton was forced to cut the corner but in doing so hit a yellow sausage kerb to his left, sending him momentarily airborne, and an obvious return to the pits to assess the car. Like Leclerc, however, he was given the all-clear to continue.

Hamilton eventually finished ninth, 0.726s adrift of Leclerc.

Behind Albon and ahead of Hamilton were championship leader Oscar Piastri in his McLaren, followed by Mercedes' George Russell, Sainz and Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10, 0.041s behind Hamilton.

Team-mate Stroll naturally finished bottom, 3.671s down but he only managed four laps.

Instead, it was Franco Colapinto, on his Monaco debut in F1, and mindful of avoiding another crash after doing so on his maiden outing with Alpine at Imola last week, who was effectively last, 1.856s off the pace.