di Grassi sets morning pace in FP1

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi topped the times in the opening practice session of the day ahead of Sam Bird and Mitch Evans, with the outright lap record for the Monaco circuit broken within the first ten minutes.

The session got going under an overcast sky, with drivers wasting no time in getting out onto the Monagasque circuit.

The outright lap record was broken almost immediately as Oliver Rowland dipped under the 52.729s set by teammate Sebastien Buemi back in season three, but the times would continue to tumble in a session characterised by a high number of changes of fastest lap.

Championship leader Robin Frijns was the first to set a representative lap as he set a 51.191s, but the times kept tumbling as the track conditions improved with multiple drivers including Antonio Felix da Costa, Jerome d’Ambrosio and Mitch Evans all taking turns at the top of the timing screens.

Two drivers came under investigation by the stewards, with both Evans and Maximilian Günther speeding under the full course yellow simulation.

In the end it was di Grassi who put his Audi e-Tron FE05 fastest of all, 0.072s ahead of Bird while Evans was only a tenth behind in his Panasonic Jaguar Racing I-Type 3.

For all the fast laps being put in it was a relatively quiet session, with the only real drama coming right at the end as the BMW i Andretti of Alexander Sims missed his braking point into the Nouvelles hairpin on his final flying lap, taking to the run-off area as a result.

Sims nevertheless ended the session in a respectable fourth place, ahead of previous Monaco E-Prix race winner Buemi. Championship contenders da Costa and Frijns finished sixth and seventh respectively, while Andre Lotterer, Rowland and Stoffel Vandoorne rounded out the top ten.