Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin “probably cannot even race” in the Monaco Grand Prix if it cannot fix the gearbox downshift problem he says made his car almost undriveable in Miami, because he fears a random downshift could cause a crash on the tight street circuit. Alonso said: "If you have the downshift problem like we had in Miami, probably we cannot even race, because we will crash in one of the braking points due to a very different downshift type. Monaco is not the place to have a random downshift, and you have rear [brake] locking or [engine] pushing or something like that. Then you will crash into the wall, and the driver will look stupid."

Charles Leclerc has been placed under investigation by the FIA stewards for allegedly impeding Liam Lawson during first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, meaning a second stewards’ visit of the day. Leclerc had already been summoned before the session for arriving late to Thursday’s press conference, with Ferrari and McLaren each fined €5,000 suspended for 12 months unless repeated. Rookie Arvid Lindblad has also been called to the stewards after being investigated for impeding Oscar Piastri in FP1.

Liam Lawson has been summoned to the stewards after a pitlane breach at the end of Monaco GP first practice. With the session briefly red-flagged for debris after Fernando Alonso’s collision, cars later went back out for practice starts, but Lawson moved past the pit exit after the red light was shown. The Racing Bulls driver will explain the incident to the stewards ahead of FP2 later today.


Charles Leclerc topped the opening practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix for Ferrari.




P1) Charles Leclerc - 1:13.978 P2) Lewis Hamilton: +0.226 P3) Max Verstappen: +0.513 P4) Kimi Antonelli: +0.559 P5) George Russell: +1.005 P6) Lando Norris: +1.313 P7) Nico Hulkenberg: +1.365 P8) Oscar Piastri: +1.587 P9) Gabriel Bortoleto: +1.772 P10) Pierre Gasly: +1.850 P11) Alexander Albon: +2.011 P12) Carlos Sainz Jnr: +2.063 P13) Isack Hadjar: +2.170 P14) Sergio Perez: +2.192 P15) Franco Colapinto: +2.211 P16) Oliver Bearman: +2.314 P17) Esteban Ocon: +2.355 P18) Arvid Lindblad: +2.411 P19) Liam Lawson: +2.453 P20) Fernando Alonso: +2.700 P21) Valtteri Bottas: +3.482 P22) Lance Stroll: +3.578



Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack said Friday’s running at the Monaco Grand Prix will be the “real test” of the team’s seat tweaks for Fernando Alonso after the Spaniard retired in Canada with pain caused by his seat. Krack said: "Now, the driving is the real test. You see it statically, it's not always the same, but I think we made this really small step in the right direction. He was mildly confident that this is going to be an improvement, but I would not be surprised if we have to do another tweak over the sessions to get him really comfortable."
George Russell says his Formula 1 title fight with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli is “still in my control” despite retiring from the Canadian Grand Prix with a power unit failure and slipping 43 points behind heading into Monaco. Russell said: "It's still in my control. If you pole and win every single race from now until the end of the season, you'll win the championship. That is my goal. Of course, it was frustrating in Canada but that's part of racing. It can't always be sunshine and glory."

George Russell says Formula 1 race starts in 2026 are “very challenging” to get right because drivers must synchronise power delivery in the new cars and manage higher rear tyre pressures. Russell said: "I think it's very challenging in this generation of cars. Firstly you're trying to get the turbo speed up and get the boost from the engine. Then you don't have the MGU-K activated until 50km an hour. Then how that power integrates as you're accelerating in turn with the gear shifts as well. We have on average 5psi higher rear tyre pressures this year compared to last year, so judging the grip level has been a challenge."

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says the team is not considering signing Max Verstappen because it is “very happy” with its current driver line-up. Brown said: "We're very happy with our driver lineup. I've stated that for a couple of years, so I don't see any opportunity at the moment here at McLaren. He's obviously an awesome talent, but we've got two drivers who work extremely well together… So, we're very, very happy with the driver lineup."


Audi says it wants turbocharging retained in F1’s next engine cycle for 2030 or 2031, amid FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s push for naturally aspirated V8s with a minimal hybrid element. Speaking at Monaco, Audi CEO Gernot Dollner said a turbo was “definitely more important than talking about the number of cylinders”, adding: “We prefer turbo due to the efficiency aspect.” Dollner said there were no current deal breakers for Audi’s participation, and added: “we will definitely have sustainable fuels.”



McLaren marked its 1000th Formula 1 race at the Monaco Grand Prix with a commemorative demonstration featuring its original M2B. Mika Hakkinen drove the team’s first F1 car for a lap of the Monaco circuit before it was parked alongside this year’s MCL40 on the pit straight, with a group photo also featuring past McLaren race winners and champions including David Coulthard, John Watson and Emerson Fittipaldi. The event was described to media as a “moment”, with McLaren becoming only the second team after Ferrari to reach 1000 races.








Kimi Antonelli says Mercedes has told him and George Russell they can race each other freely as long as they show respect and avoid situations that could damage either car, after the pair fought closely for the lead in Canada. Antonelli said: "We had this discussion after the race weekend. Actually, we had one a couple of days ago before coming here, and we had a chat, we reviewed all the episodes of the race, and, basically, the end of the discussion was, 'you can race each other freely, as long as there's respect, and as long as you don't put yourself in situations that could damage one of you or both of you.'"
Carlos Sainz says Williams’ early-season struggles in 2026 have been a “test of faith” after the team produced a car with a heavier chassis than its rivals, but he still believes in the project after changes made in response. Sainz said: "Tested my faith? For sure. When you go from scoring podiums at the end of last year to suddenly being where we were two seconds and a half of the pace at the beginning of the year, two seconds is a big test of faith or a big shock to the system. ... Thanks to the shock of that bump we definitely put a very strong action to correct them... That made me recover a lot, that faith and the belief in the project."


F1 put on Europe's largest-ever drone show at the Monaco Grand Prix to announce and celebrate the Las Vegas Grand Prix extension until 2037.
The FIA and Liberty Media are pushing engine manufacturers to agree revised 2027 power unit regulations within days, targeting final approval at the Spanish Grand Prix on 12-14 June. The FIA wants to move away from this year’s near-50:50 electric/combustion split and had proposed a 14% fuel-flow rise to shift power towards the combustion engine, but Ferrari and Audi raised concerns in Montreal about reliability, costs and workload. An alternative being discussed would combine a smaller 5% fuel-flow increase with an already-approved 2027 aerodynamic load reduction to help reach a 60/40 split with minimal power unit changes.

McLaren – x2 Performance, x2 Circuit Specific, x2 Reliability Mercedes – x1 Performance Red Bull – x1 Performance, x3 Reliability Ferrari – x3 Circuit Specific Williams – x2 Performance Racing Bulls – x1 Performance, x1 Circuit Specific Aston Martin – x2 Performance, x1 Circuit Specific Haas – x3 Performance Audi – x2 Performance, x2 Circuit Specific Alpine – x1 Performance Cadillac – x2 Performance



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