And just to think that on the eve of the weekend he had predicted three days of defeat for Ferrari, instead Charles Leclerc, perhaps buoyed by the air of his Principality, finished at the head of the field in both free practice sessions held this Friday. Behind him the next up was Oscar Piastri. The current leader of the overall caused a red flag in free practice 2 that had just begun after kissing the barriers at the unforgiving Sainte Devote curve, but then managed to recover well by putting himself just 38 thousandths behind the Ferrarista and local idol.
Evidently, in spite of skepticism, Monte Carlo seems to provide fertile ground for the SF25 since third, one-tenth behind, finished Lewis Hamilton, who spent a long time on track on medium tyres.
Only fourth was the other McLaren driver Lando Norris, looking to relaunch his championship attack after doubts undermined by his consistently more competitive Australian teammate. Behind the Englishman are the two Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, ahead of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, which for the first time can enjoy the on-circuit support of Adrian Newey, the genius designer poached by the Silverstone-based team from Red Bull.
After his excellent performance at Imola Alex Albon did not disappoint in the city street circuit by placing his Williams in eighth position ahead of Andrea Antonelli's Mercedes, who was in better shape than George Russell, only 12th, and world champion Max Verstappen's Red Bull.
For full details and coverage here is the link to Motorsport.com.
