Carlos Sainz has ended the opening practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, setting a lap time of 1:13.372.
The Spaniard was over three-tenths of a second faster than compatriot Fernando Alonso, who slotted into second place.
The heavily upgraded Mercedes car ended the session in third place at the hands of Lewis Hamilton – however the seven-time World Champion was over six-tenths behind Sainz.
READ MORE: F1 2023 Monaco Result – FP1 Results
Sergio Perez was the leading Red Bull in fourth place, while Charles Leclerc rounded out the top five, ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen.
The session ended under a red flag after Alexander Albon lost the rear of his Williams car through Turn 1, sustaining substantial damage to the left side of his car.
It marked the second red flag of the day as earlier in the session, Nico Hulkenberg tagged the wall at the Nouvelle Chicane which caused a puncture to his Haas car.
Although he was able to return to the pits, Race Control opted to throw the red flag to clear up the debris left behind.
Albon’s team-mate Logan Sargeant also found himself in a spot of bother as an issue with his rear right wheel forced him back into the pits, with the Williams mechanics visibly struggling to remove the tyre.
Lando Norris was seventh in the order, ahead of Esteban Ocon and the second Aston Martin of Stroll.
Despite crashing out, Albon rounded out the top 10, setting a time that was 1.2 seconds down on the fastest lap of the session.
George Russell was positioned in 15th in the second Mercedes, while Nyck de Vries was the fastest of the rookie trio.
The Dutchman placed 16th, while Oscar Piastri and Sargeant followed in 17th and 18th respectively.
The second free practice session from Monaco will get underway at 17:00 local time.
