Lewis Hamilton set the quickest lap of first practice in Monaco as rookie teenager Max Verstappen claimed a surprise second place with the time just under 1500ths of a second off the Mercedes: driver’s time. Third place in the opening session went to Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Hamilton was the busiest man on track, getting through 49 laps for a best time of 1:18.750, set relatively early in the session, as the initially damp track began to improve. It was Verstappen who most caught the eye though. Despite having no experience of the Monaco circuit the Dutch teenager go to grips with its demands in double quick time and he quickly rose through the order as his confidence grew. A late flying lap of 1:18.899 eventually netted him P2 on the time sheet, just 0.149 adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark.
The Toro Rosso driver’s late lap put him ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian driver has targeted Monaco as Red Bull’s best chance of a podium finish this season and as if to prove his credentials Ricciardo set the fastest first sector during the session. In the end his best time was 0.336 down on Hamilton’s.
Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Ferrari, ending up 0.384s slower than Hamilton, while Carlos Sainz completed a good morning for Toro Rosso by setting the session’s fifth fastest time.
Pastor Maldonado finished sixth for Lotus, though the Venezuelan’s session wasn’t without incident. He was among a number of drivers forced to use the escape road at Sainte Devote, Maldonado twice overcooking it into turn one. Williams: Valtteri Bottas also made two trips off circuit at the corner.
Seventh place went to Daniil Kvyat in the second Red Bull, while Kimi Räikkönen was eighth in the second Ferrari.
Nico Rosberg might have been expected to join Mercedes team-mate Hamilton at the top of the order but the German, who claimed pole and victory in 2013 and last year, hit the barriers at Tabac early in the session and though there appeared to minimal damage he ended the session in ninth place and over a second behind Hamilton.
Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten for Williams ahead of the McLaren pair of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m18.750s - 49 laps2. Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m18.899s 0.149s 42 3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m19.086s 0.336s 27 4. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m19.134s 0.384s 31 5. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m19.245s 0.495s 40 6. Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m19.454s 0.704s 35 7. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m19.520s 0.770s 33 8. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m19.679s 0.929s 31 9. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m19.762s 1.012s 47 10 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m19.766s 1.016s 32 11 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m19.791s 1.041s 28 12 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m20.202s 1.452s 15 13 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m20.274s 1.524s 34 14 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m20.619s 1.869s 35 15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m20.784s 2.034s 34 16 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m20.857s 2.107s 24 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m20.917s 2.167s 36 18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m21.219s 2.469s 25 19 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1m23.234s 4.484s 28 20 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1m23.404s 4.654s 31
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