Formula E in Monaco: Dan Ticktum beats Pascal Wehrlein in 1st free practice

Dan Ticktum has won the first free practice session of the Monaco E-Prix. The Briton in his Cupra Kiro beat world champion Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) by the blink of an eye. The two Mahindra drivers Nyck de Vries and Edo Mortara as well as Jake Dennis (Andretti) completed the top 5. The Gen3 Evo car was in the first session already 1.2 seconds faster than its Formula E predecessor.

The first free practice session - like the second - was only scheduled for 30 minutes because four sessions were to be held on race Saturday in Monaco. FP1 began punctually at 7.30am (CEST) with the usual full-course yellow practice. The drivers then gradually approached the track limits in the morning sun. Everyone involved was eagerly awaiting to see how much the stronger attack mode would affect the lap times this year.

After the first ten minutes, the best time was 1:31.281 minutes. This meant that Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) was still a good 2.5 seconds off Sacha Fenestraz's track record from the qualifying semi-final duel in 2023 (1:28.773 minutes). However, no driver had yet used attack mode. Apart from a braking error by Nico Müller, not much worth mentioning happened in the first third of the session.

Towards the halfway point of the session, some drivers tried out the pit boost, which would be used for the second time in Formula E history in Saturday's race. At the same time, the first drivers switched to attack mode. Dan Ticktum was the first to beat the old track record with his Kiro. He was followed by Jake Dennis and his team-mate David Beckmann. Then the final phase of training began.

Mahindra holds his own in the top 5

At first, the two Mahindra riders moved into the top 5, as did Oliver Rowland. There were further improvements just over two minutes before the end: First Nyck de Vries set the fastest time, but then Ticktum was faster again. Wehrlein improved to third place, and a little later even to second. Nick Cassidy, meanwhile, had a technical problem with his Jaguar and was unable to set a competitive time.

After the time had elapsed, there was no improvement on the best time. Ticktum won the opening session with a lap time of 1:27.511 minutes and a lead of four thousandths of a second over world champion Wehrlein - a good start to the weekend for the Porsche cars. The second free practice session at the Monaco E-Prix starts at 9:10 a.m. (CEST) - also available to watch in the livestream and liveticker on e-Formula.news.

Results & lap times

Championship standings (drivers, teams & manufacturers)