REPORT: 144 laps recorded on a busy Monaco Friday

Friday in Monaco is complete with the team already pouring over the data gathered in a busy 120 minutes of running in the principality.

FP1 saw the only stoppage to clear debris at Sainte-Devote, only a minor hold of five minutes in an otherwise clear day of running.

The opening hour saw us stick exclusively to the medium and hard tyres, with Alex and Logan clocking 34 and 36 laps between them.

FP2 saw the red-walled softs make an appearance, with our pair ending the day in P9 and P18 respectively.

Alex’s second hour of running around Monte Carlo had him eke out single lap pace with his best soft tyre effort good enough for a top-10 placement.

He doubled that up with long-run practice, clocking up two dozen laps on the medium compound, split over two runs; the most of anyone using Pirelli’s yellow-walled rubber.

With his 38 FP2 laps, and a further 36 laps from Logan on a variety of compounds, we ended the day with 298 miles/440 kilometres of data to help us prepare for the rest of the weekend.

Alex looked back on his day with some thoughts on 2023, saying, "It’s been okay today; we have the same issue as last year with our car struggling to get the front tyres in a good window and when they’re not in a good window, they open up and start graining.

"The concept of our car tends to lend itself to this kind of circuit with it being an area we’ve been focusing on.

"The weight isn’t such a big factor around here, so it feels like we’re on a more level playing field.

"Q2 is a good goal but hopefully, we can be in the higher end of this."

For Logan, Friday's running has him believing there is more lap time to find after getting time to put some work in, and said, "There were some good and bad moments today, however, FP2 wasn’t very smooth.

"We have some work to do tonight on the low and high fuel, and whilst it wasn’t the best today, it’s still a pleasure to drive the streets of Monaco.

"We need to fix the balance and get the tyres in a better window, understanding the variables more to bring it all together.

"There’s lots to gain out there, so we’ll do some work tonight and see what we can do tomorrow."

Sven Smeets, the Williams Racing Sporting Director, believed our opening Monte Carlo day went as he expected: "The first day in Monaco is always a bit tricky as the track is a real challenge for every driver from start to finish.

"Drivers need some laps to get in the rhythm and to start building up confidence.

"We had a reasonably good day today with both drivers being able to do their full run plans in both FP1 and FP2.

"Alex showed some promising pace on the Soft tyre but the long run in FP2 proved we still have some overnight work to do to improve the car for the race on Sunday.

"The key will be to find the right balance between Qualifying and Race-pace.

"As the chance for showers tomorrow is decreasing it seems we are heading to a dry Qualifying which will be well appreciated by the fans."