Britain's Dan Ticktum quickest in opening Free Practice ahead of two Formula E rounds in two days!

Credit: Andrew Ferraro

British racing driver Dan Ticktum is the driver to beat in Monaco after he, for Cupra Kiro, set the fastest time in Free Practice 1 early on Saturday morning.

Ticktum spent the majority of the session at the top of the time sheets with being consistently the driver that others had to find extra time to be able to beat and leap above him on the timing pages. Ultimately a 1:27.511 was unbeatable and he ended the opening session quickest.

The British driver beat reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein by just four one thousandths of a second, with that being an extremely close margin at the end of the first session. Mahindra's Nyck De Vries was third.

This is the start of two rounds in two days with Nissan's Oliver Rowland coming into this double round weekend with the championship lead. He has a 15-point lead over Antonio Felix Da Costa, who is second in the standings.

How Free Practice 1 unfolded in Monte Carlo

For the first time in three weeks it was time to begin race weekend action in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, ahead of the first double round weekend in Monaco.

The infamous Circuit De Monaco is home to rounds six and seven of this year's championship with all of the weekend's sessions across the two rounds happening in just two days - on Saturday and Sunday. These two rounds were rounds six and seven of the 2024/25 season.

First up on an action-packed weekend was Free Practice 1 and one of two half an hour Free Practice sessions in quick sessions to kick start Saturday's action. Free Practice sessions in Formula E usually last 40 minutes but because of the tight schedule, both Free Practices on Saturday were half an hour each (30 minutes each).

The green light was on at the end of the pit lane as the sun was still rising in the principality of Monte Carlo. This signalled the start to two very busy days with the two rounds taking place over two days.

Before flying laps really started, the usual Full Course Yellow test (FCY) was undertaken so the Race Director and the FIA could see how well it worked around the circuit and the drivers could practice their procedures on circuit.

In the first ten minutes of the session, the times were improving constantly and the drivers were changing positions all the time on the timing sheets with all 22 drivers getting out on circuit with such a busy day ahead of them.

At the end of the first 10, it was the DS Penske of multiple champion Jean-Eric Vergne who had the provisional fastest time with a 1:32.559. However, with the constant nature of the circuit ramping up constantly, he would be soon out of the top five.

Nyck De Vries, Dan Ticktum, Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein were all drivers who went faster than the previous best session time from Vergne. However, Robin Frijns put a great lap together to go top by half a tenth of a second with a 1:31.227.

A phenomenal lap though from Dan Ticktum saw go ahead of that Frijns' lap by over eight tenths of a second but he was unable to remain fastest for long as reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein beat him by three hundredths of a second. 

Wehrlein's lap of 1:30.307 was the new fastest time of the session and the one everyone had to aim to beat. Wehrlein was among many drivers halfway through who went through a Pit Boost test, as that returns for round six for just its second ever appearance in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Cupra Kiro were showing great pace in Free Practice 1, especially in the hands of Brit Dan Ticktum but with 12 minutes to go they were first and second with German driver David Beckmann also being in the top two. Ticktum's lap time was a 1:27.990 - 1.443 faster than Beckmann.

A few drivers ended up splitting the two Cupra Kiro drivers in the top five which included Jake Dennis, Edoardo Mortara, Frijns and Taylor Barnard. Dennis' time was still over two tenths behind Ticktum, who was proving to have set a really strong lap time.

However, De Vries got close and moved into second position but just missed out on taking top position. The Dutchman was 0.012 behind Ticktum's lap which saw him remain at the top of the time sheets as Free Practice 1 entered the final five minutes.

Ticktum had improvement to find though and he did just that with another impressive time of 1:27.511 and he looked to be showing some consistent pace around Monte Carlo and looked competitive this weekend. 

Soon enough and the chequered flag was out in Monaco, which brought an end to a very busy session for teams and drivers, which thankfully for them was not disrupted without any red flags to bring a halt between green flag conditions.

It was the Cupra Kiro of Brit Dan Ticktum, who was the fastest driver in Free Practice 1 with his lap of 1:27.511. The British driver was fastest by just four one thousandths of a second to Pascal Wehrlein in second. The top three were separated by half a tenth with Nyck De Vries completing the top three.

Jake Dennis was fourth for Andretti ahead of Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara in fifth, who made it two Mahindra drivers inside the top five. Antonio Felix Da Costa was sixth ahead of the two Nissan drivers in seventh and eighth - Oliver Rowland ahead of Norman Nato.

Rounding off the top 10 was Maserati's Jake Hughes and DS Penske's Maximilian Gunther.

Formula E was to return in the very near future for Free Practice 2 ahead of round six E-Prix day in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship

2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 6 - Monaco Free Practice 1 result

1. Dan Ticktum
2. Pascal Wehrlein
3. Nyck De Vries
4. Jake Dennis
5. Edoardo Moratara
6. Anotnio Felix Da Costa
7. Oliver Rowland
8. Norman Nato
9. Jake Hughes
10. Maximilian Gunther
11. Jean-Eric Vergne
12. Robin Frijns
13. Taylor Barnard
14. Sebastian Buemi
15. Lucas Di Grassi
16. David Beckmann
17. Mitch Evans
18. Nico Mueller 
19. Sam Bird
20. Stoffel Vandoorne
21. Zane Maloney
22. Nick Cassidy

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal