the 2023 carlando doc is finally here! big shoutout to @palalabu @artemispt @ehcahache @cesiumclock @goldenboygate and @talksaboutracing bc most of these posts are by you! also @landinrris for helping me w the format and @formulacherry for, once again, checking this over for me!

also!! i've made a blog @carlando2023 solely to archive all the posts in reverse chronological order for easier access (currently queued to post over the next few days)

probably the most important practice session of the year given how crucial qualifying is

the lap times just got faster and faster throughout the session - the tyres werent degging off and the track just got grippier as rubber was laid down. even on 18 lap old mediums, lewis was setting good times

lots of close moments between cars on push laps and cars on cool down laps - engineers are constantly talking to the drivers to warn them about cars coming from behind

VSC out - lando retired from the session due to a PU issue barely 15mins in

lewis reporting that his "seat keeps clicking" - trying different positions for visibility

alonso has also been trialling different seats, as comfort was on the back burner due to all of astons issues

charles managed to get a clean lap in after the vsc and traffic got in his way - looking even more comfortable than in fp1

oscar was lacking rear grip and struggling to take the corners

george came up quickly behind bortoleto and nearly rear-ended him

despite that, george is looking much more confident now, pushing the car and putting good, quick laps in

kimi had some quick moments, but struggled to put it all together - nearly lost it through portier

lewis had a massive 4 wheel slide - still lacking some grip, hustling the car to the limit

oscar reported that some debris came off the cadillac and into his path

alex was impeded into massenet by arvid - felt it was dangerous

lewis locked his front left, decided to pit for a front flap adjustment - had to make hand signals as he came in so late

pierre got caught up behind carlos, but neither of them were on quick laps

arvid was unhappy w his engine braking through the session, ran deep at the chicane

ferrari struggled to improve on their soft tyre push laps, but held on to their advantage

both williams drivers were reporting lack of heat in their tyres and were struggling to get enough power from their PU

red flag - perez pulled over after reporting smoke in his cockpit. his rear brakes were on fire

charles locked up and went into the run off at mirabeau, to start and end his session

vcarb drivers both struggling to get round the hairpin - arvid saying "i don't think I have enough steering for the hair pin" and lawson "i do not have enough steering for the hairpin"

lewis and lando seemed to be sitting higher in the car - better position to see the track

lance starting the session mostly in the garage - struggling w how the car is relaying info to the engineers, w the mechanics wearing their rubber gloves

esteban and ollie having a disagreement about how close theyre running on track: esteban said "he doesn't have to fuck my lap time twice" and ollie said "that was so stupid from esteban"

redbulls struggling with drivability again, as isack reported that the car "is not drivable up the hill" due to "the bouncing".

parts of monaco have been resurfaced, but the bumps will be noticeable to all drivers

verstappen quickly reported that his "tyres are dead, completely dead" - should last longer as the weekend goes on

VSC out - an alpine lost a chunk of carbon fibre on track.

lewis had a huge lock up at saint devote, went into the runoff, then pitted for a suspension change

lando had big rear snap through the exit of the swimming pool chicane - managed to keep it on track, but clattered over the kerb as he did

red flag - isack into wall on the exit of swimming pool chicane, huge rear snap late into the corner - front wing destroyed, rear left corner damaged

green flag after 8 minutes

charles locked up on his first push lap on the mediums, had to abandon that lap

lewis lost most of his time to charles in the final sector - probably had less rear grip. he also had more traffic and slide through rascasse that cost him time

lewis' car is quite on the nose atm, so he's lacking confidence in rear

ferrari are up to speed much faster than others - crucial at monaco where its harder to make up time if you start the weekend slow because teams dont experiment with the set-up as much

lawson touched wall with his front right tyre through the swimming pool, said "not sure if I've got damage"

charles and lawson, and arvid and oscar, are all under investigation for impeding

red flag - with 4 mins left on clock alonso hit the wall, on exit of tunnel after losing the rear, front wing endplate gone

the session was resumed with 1 min on clock for practice starts

george initially seemed to be struggling this weekend, off the pace to kimi, and spent a chunk of time in the garage.