Author Archives: PressBox

Ferrari announced that team principal Fred Vasseur, 58, would miss Saturday’s Monaco Grand Prix qualifying after undergoing medical checks and being kept under observation at a local medical facility. The team said it would not provide further medical details and wished Vasseur a speedy recovery. Ferrari framed the matter as an internal medical issue and gave no timetable for his return.

The statement, released as qualifying was imminent, said Vasseur would not be present at the circuit on Saturday but did not identify who might assume his trackside responsibilities for qualifying. Vasseur has led Ferrari’s Formula 1 team since 2023 and received a multi-year contract extension last year. The announcement removed a key figure from a crucial part of the race weekend and left Ferrari managing both sporting priorities and an unexpected leadership absence.

On Friday Charles Leclerc topped first practice and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the second session, underscoring the competitive picture for the weekend. Vasseur had earlier warned teams that Friday times were not definitive and urged crews to anticipate track and grip evolution, saying teams should be “one session ahead” of qualifying and the race. Ferrari and other outlets extended well wishes for Vasseur’s recovery.

George Russell arrived at the Monaco Grand Prix exposed by a clear pace deficit to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who took pole with a 1:12.051 lap. Antonelli’s time was 0.043 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen and capped a run of four straight wins that has left Russell 43 points adrift in the standings. Russell qualified sixth, about 0.39-0.4 seconds off the pole pace, and said he was “a bit bamboozled” and “bewildered,” adding that “nothing’s clicking.” He blamed a mismatch between his driving style and the W17, said he lacks confidence in the car, and acknowledged he must either change his approach or push for development to close the gap. Sky pundit Anthony Davidson said onboard footage confirmed a visible lack of confidence from Russell compared with Antonelli, noting a rear loss at Turn 1 and tentative work through the key Monaco corners.

The weekend exposed inconsistent form across practice sessions. Russell set the fourth-fastest time in FP2, roughly 0.4 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton and about 0.1 seconds quicker than Antonelli, but he was more than seven-tenths of a second slower than Antonelli in FP3. Team principal Toto Wolff said Russell did not feel fully comfortable in the car but warned he should not be written off. Russell described Ferrari as “the team to beat” after practice and pointed to the SF-26’s mechanical characteristics being well suited to street circuits like Monaco. He also acknowledged Red Bull as a surprise performer and said Mercedes had ideas to improve the W17 overnight but had not yet “nailed it.”

Russell’s struggles were compounded by earlier season setbacks, including an engine failure in Canada that contributed to his points deficit. He said he has “nothing to lose” and will try to enjoy every race, arguing the championship remains mathematically reachable if he can keep taking poles and convert them into wins. The Monaco result underlined Antonelli’s momentum and left Mercedes facing both setup and development questions if Russell is to stem the widening performance gap.

Charles Leclerc’s persistent brake and car‑consistency problems cost him a shot at pole and culminated in a Q3 crash that compromised his Monaco qualifying. Leclerc slid into the Tabac wall during his final Q3 push, breaking the rear suspension and ending an attempt that had briefly put him on provisional pole. He blamed ongoing braking problems and an inconsistent car, saying, “I don’t really know where to brake,” and describing the last two weekends as “incredibly tough.” Reports varied on the immediate cause of the ruined lap, with some accounts citing a puncture after contact with the wall, and others linking the incident directly to the brake and balance issues that have dogged him since Canada. The crash left Leclerc fourth on the grid, his worst Monaco qualifying since 2023, with Ferrari noting the car’s unpredictable behaviour made it hard to judge limits.

Leclerc had shown strong pace through Friday practice, topping FP1 and finishing second in FP2, but he and the team flagged recurring brake problems and setup inconsistency throughout the weekend. He reported a “horrendous” feeling under braking in FP3, and earlier sessions included a lock‑up at Mirabeau and a brush with the barriers at the Swimming Pool that produced debris and a brief Virtual Safety Car. Ferrari said it believes it has a potential fix and plans to test it in Barcelona, and the team will monitor data and any repair‑related penalties before confirming Leclerc’s final starting status. In qualifying Andrea Kimi Antonelli took pole ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, leaving Leclerc to regroup from a damaged car and lost confidence for Sunday’s race.

McLaren’s Monaco practice was dominated by reliability and setup headaches after Lando Norris suffered an electrical shutdown that left his MCL40 stranded at the Nouvelle Chicane, costing him roughly 45 minutes of running and a 19th-place classification. McLaren confirmed the stoppage was caused by an electrical fault that engineers had not yet isolated, and Norris watched the remainder of FP2 from the pit wall, saying, “The car simply turned off.” The stoppage forced Oscar Piastri to be McLaren’s sole runner for much of the session and prompted a brief Virtual Safety Car period.

The running exposed a roughly one-second pace deficit to the frontrunners. Oscar Piastri finished seventh in FP2, about 1.0 to 1.062 seconds behind the session benchmark of 1:13.026 set by Lewis Hamilton, after the team said it had trimmed an earlier gap of around 1.5 seconds. McLaren reported the MCL40 looked more competitive through sectors two and three but struggled in the first sector, a shortfall the team linked to tyre warm-up and temperature. Chief technical officer Rob Marshall and Piastri said they were optimistic about finding overnight improvements, but Piastri also said the squad had “no great ideas” for an immediate fix. McLaren listed diagnosing the electrical fault and fine-tuning temperature and balance as immediate priorities, and the team brought a six-piece upgrade package to Monaco, including a radical rear winglet.

The session underlined how much work McLaren faces before qualifying, as Ferrari set the pace on Friday with Hamilton’s 1:13.026 and Charles Leclerc 0.111 seconds adrift, and running was repeatedly interrupted by incidents including Sergio Perez’s front-right brake fire and crashes that sent other cars to the garage. The team also carried recent reliability concerns into Monaco after Andrea Stella said separate overheating and gearbox failures had forced Norris out in Montreal, and McLaren said it would focus on repairing the electrical issue and extracting performance from the upgrade package ahead of the decisive sessions.

Charles Leclerc set the pace in first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, posting a 1:13.978 to give Ferrari a 1-2 in a crash-hit FP1. Leclerc’s time was 0.226 seconds quicker than teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Max Verstappen a further 0.513 seconds back in third. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli ran fourth and George Russell was fifth, with Lando Norris and Nico Hülkenberg also inside the top seven, providing an early read on the pecking order around the tight Monte Carlo street circuit.

The session was interrupted twice by heavy incidents that curtailed running. Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar lost control exiting the Swimming Pool chicane and struck the barriers nose-first, ripping off bodywork and prompting a red flag; Hadjar radioed that the car was “undrivable.” Fernando Alonso later clipped the wall at the Nouvelle/harbor chicane and shed part of his front wing, triggering another stoppage and a brief virtual safety car for debris. Leclerc himself locked up at Mirabeau and brushed the barriers, and several drivers ran into run-off areas as teams struggled with tyre degradation and the new-generation cars on Monaco’s slow-speed sections.

Teams said they would analyse the curtailed running and use Free Practice 2 to refine setups and assess race-day potential, after many drivers switched to medium tyres in the closing stages. Stewards opened probes into multiple incidents, including an alleged impeding between Leclerc and Liam Lawson, a separate impeding allegation against Arvid Lindblad for blocking Oscar Piastri, and an inquiry into Lawson leaving the pit exit on a red light. Observers noted that Ferrari’s SF-26 and team setups appeared well suited to Monaco’s low-speed corners, but commentators stressed that track evolution and tyre choices could still change the competitive balance across the weekend.