The opening free practice session of the Monaco E-Prix commenced under cloudy skies, marking the beginning of Round 8.
Photo Credit: Formula E | Simon Galloway
Early in the session, Lucas Di Grassi initially led the field, followed by Stoffel Vandoorne and Antonio Felix Da Costa. However, the leaderboard changed swiftly as Robin Frijns from Envision Racing set a quicker pace with a lap time of 1:34.98s, narrowly avoiding a collision with the wall. This effort positioned him at the top, while Jaguar’s drivers closely trailed.
As the session progressed, Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, known for his success in Monaco, captured the lead with a time of 1:34.70s. This was soon outpaced by his teammate Nick Cassidy, who set an improved time before Evans reestablished his dominance with a lap of 1:33.67s.
Mid-session activities were briefly interrupted by a red flag due to debris on the track. This was caused by Edoardo Mortara from Mahindra Racing, who clipped the wall, fortunately with minor damage to his vehicle, allowing him to continue in the session.
In the latter stages, Evans was the first to clock a lap time in the 1:32s, underscoring his and Jaguar’s competitive form. Frijns managed to improve upon Evans’s time, setting a session-leading 1:32.49s.
The pace remained high as various drivers, including Dan Ticktum, took turns leading the timings.
The session was further complicated by multiple yellow flags, the most notable being caused by Sam Bird’s incident at Turn 1, where he locked up and collided with the wall. Additionally, in the final minutes, Oliver Rowland’s contact with the barrier triggered another pause in the action.
After all the flying laps post the final yellow flag, Jaguar’s drivers, Evans and Cassidy, along with Frijns, were the standout performers.
Evans, in particular, impressed with a 1:30.41s lap, the fastest of the session.
Frijns remained close, only 0.300 seconds behind, while the top five was rounded off by British drivers Jake Hughes and Jake Dennis. Notably, championship contender Pascal Wehrlein ended the session in 14th position.