Leclerc fastest in both Friday practice sessions

Monaco Grand Prix

Venue: Monte Carlo Dates: 23-25 May Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday

Coverage: Live commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 with race on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc headed McLaren's Oscar Piastri in Friday practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Leclerc, who won his home race last year and was pessimistic about his chances coming to Monaco, was just 0.038 seconds ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Piastri, the championship leader, set that pace despite a crash early in the session, when he went nose-first into the barrier at the first corner, Sainte Devote, but escaped with just a broken front wing.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, 0.105secs off Leclerc on an encouraging day for the Italian team.

McLaren's Lando Norris was fourth fastest, 0.322secs off the pace, ahead of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, who had two crashes during the session.

Hadjar's first incident saw him hit the inside wall at the apex of the Nouvelle Chicane. He survived that with a puncture and damaged wheel.

But later in the session he slide wide after an oversteer moment at Sainte Devote and broke his left rear suspension.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was seventh fastest as managing technical partner Adrian Newey made his first visit to a grand prix for his new team, ahead of Williams' Alex Albon, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The winner of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix last Sunday had a troubled session. Verstappen ended up 0.713secs off the pace and even had a trip down the escape road at Mirabeau late in the session.

Leclerc set the pace in both sessions, in the first despite saying he was not happy with the car, claiming Ferrari were "nowhere".

Verstappen was second fastest in the first session ahead of Norris.

Leclerc had an incident-packed first session.

He started it by taking to the escape road at Mirabeau on his very first lap, and soon afterwards hit the rear of Lance Stroll's Aston Martin at the Loews hairpin, after the Canadian veered into the Ferrari's path while on a slow lap.

That damaged the Ferrari's front wing, but Leclerc was able to continue. Stroll, though, took no further part in the session because of rear suspension damage and the need to change his gearbox.

The Canadian was given a one-place grid penalty for his lack of awareness.