Monaco Grand Prix: Friday Practice Recap

Friday’s running consisted of two 60-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – around the historic 3.337-kilometer (2.074-mile), 19-turn street circuit.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg kicked off FP1 with a baseline run on the Pirelli P Zero White hard tire. Both swapped onto the Yellow medium compound for their second runs. Neither driver managed to set a benchmark time however with Hulkenberg suffering a left-rear puncture having clipped the barrier on the exit of the tunnel – a red flag ensued to clear track debris while he returned to the pits. Magnussen banked a 1:14.725 after the stoppage – on his used mediums – to place P12 at the checkered. Hulkenberg’s repaired VF-23 was set to return but a second red flag ended the first practice session early – the German P20 on the timesheets with a 1:15.785 from his opening stint.

FP2 was bathed in late-afternoon sunshine as the session began – both VF-23s prompt in their garage exits on medium tires. Early runs complete, and with the street track continuing to rubber-in, quali sims followed with Magnussen and Hulkenberg delivering their fastest laps of the day. A 1:13.457 placed Magnussen P14 on the timing screen with Hulkenberg directly behind his teammate in P15 having clocked a 1:13.520. High-fuel runs wrapped Friday’s proceedings – Magnussen back on the medium tire with Hulkenberg running the soft through to the checkered flag.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team ran a total of 107 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – 57 by Magnussen and 50 by Hulkenberg.

Kevin Magnussen:

“It was a decent day and it looked good in FP1, we lost a little bit in FP2 I think with the changes we made to the car. It’s very bumpy out there for us in the low-speed, not like the typical high-speed porpoising stuff but just dealing with the bumps at the apex of the corners. It’s Monaco and everything is tight together and you only need to find a little bit then you move up a lot, so it’s still all to play for tomorrow.”

 

Nico Hulkenberg:

“It was good fun but challenging at the same time. It’s mega fast around here now and it’s the first time I drive this new generation of car around Monaco, and I have to say it’s probably the fastest thing I’ve driven around here and it’s only Friday, so there’s more to come. In terms of running, it wasn’t ideal in FP1 with the little kiss coming out of the tunnel. FP2 was okay, we collected a lot of data, and we have some new parts on the car that we need to analyze and see what else we can find.”

 

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal:

“It wasn’t a perfect day, not bad, but we learned a lot. We need to get a bit further up to qualify well because that defines the race weekend here, so we still have some work in front of us, but everyone knows what we need to do and we’ll try to achieve it for FP3. All in all, not a bad day except for the little incident from Nico but it wasn’t bad. We need to work a little bit on the set-up of the car so that the drivers feel a bit more comfortable in it.”

 

Today's Data

Event: Free Practice 1 & 2 for the Monaco Grand Prix – Friday May 26
Location: Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
Layout: 3.337-kilometer (2.074-mile), 19-turn street circuit
FP1 & FP2 Weather: Sunny
Drivers: Kevin Magnussen & Nico Hulkenberg 

Free Practice 1 (FP1) Rundown:

Magnussen: 12th overall (1:14.725), 29 laps completed
Hulkenberg: 20th overall (1:15.785), 17 laps completed
Fastest: Carlos Sainz of Scuderia Ferrari (1:13.372)

Free Practice 2 (FP2) Rundown:

Magnussen: 14th overall (1:13.457), 28 laps completed
Hulkenberg: 15th overall (1:13.520), 33 laps completed
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:12.462)