Lewis Hamilton went quickest during the opening practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, narrowly pipping an impressive display from Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen.
Key Points from FP1:
– Hamilton’s 1:18.750 benchmark was just 0.149 quicker than Verstappen managed in the Toro Rosso on Friday morning, an impressive time given the youngster has never raced here in any category.
– Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull, whilst Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel rounded off the top four competitors.
– The top eight cars were covered by less than a second, with the second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg a second adrift in ninth. The German made brief contact with a barrier but came off undamaged.
– Several drivers span at Sainte Devote including Ricciardo, Pastor Maldonado, Romain Grosjean, Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso.
– Jenson Button meanwhile suffered an ERS issue which limited his running to just 15 laps. He was however 12th quickest, half a second adrift of Alonso.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18.750 | – | 49 |
| 02 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:18.899 | 0.149 | 42 |
| 03 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:19.086 | 0.336 | 27 |
| 04 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:19.134 | 0.384 | 31 |
| 05 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:19.245 | 0.495 | 40 |
| 06 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:19.454 | 0.704 | 35 |
| 07 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:19.520 | 0.770 | 33 |
| 08 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:19.679 | 0.929 | 31 |
| 09 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:19.762 | 1.012 | 47 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:19.766 | 1.016 | 32 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:19.791 | 1.041 | 28 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:20.202 | 1.452 | 15 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:20.274 | 1.524 | 34 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:20.619 | 1.869 | 35 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:20.784 | 2.034 | 34 |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:20.857 | 2.107 | 24 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:20.917 | 2.167 | 36 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:21.219 | 2.469 | 25 |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:23.234 | 4.484 | 28 |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:23.404 | 4.654 | 31 |
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