Hamilton fastest as Renault powered cars impress

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuitmc

Lewis Hamilton dominated the first practice session of the day at Monaco, setting the best time of the session early on and remaining on top of the timesheet throughout. All Renault powered cars however, with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso were on form today, with Verstappen fastest, a tenth off of Hamilton's best.

While Hamilton's best was set rather early on in the session, the damp track that gradually dried allowed other to close in as the session progressed.

Vestappen's late improvements to second came along with Ricciardo moving up to third, ahead of Sebastian Vettel who only just managed to avoid the barriers at Casino while setting his fastest lap. Carlos Sainz was 5th fastest, marking another strong session for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Daniil Kvyat's 7th time also made it a strong session for the Renault powered teams, seeing all their 4 cars position themselves into the top 7.

Behind Kvyat however sat a group of drivers that didn't run when the track was at its best, including Raikkonen, Rosberg and Massa, ahead of the McLaren Honda duo. Alonso for instance was up to 6th 20 minutes from the end of the session, and after that dropped down the ranking as the Spaniard himself didn't improve.

At the back of the field, Sauber had a difficult start of the weekend while Manor Marussia completed the pack, running 2 seconds down on Ericsson in 18th.

Results

..
Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:18.750-49
233Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:18.899+0.14942
33Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing1:19.086+0.33627
45Sebastian VettelFerrari1:19.134+0.38431
555Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:19.245+0.49540
613Pastor MaldonadoLotus1:19.454+0.70435
726Daniil KvyatRed Bull Racing1:19.520+0.77033
87Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:19.679+0.92931
96Nico RosbergMercedes1:19.762+1.01247
1019Felipe MassaWilliams1:19.766+1.01632
1114Fernando AlonsoMclaren1:19.791+1.04128
1222Jenson ButtonMclaren1:20.202+1.45215
138Romain GrosjeanLotus1:20.274+1.52434
1411Sergio PerezForce India1:20.619+1.86935
1527Nico HulkenbergForce India1:20.784+2.03434
1612Felipe NasrSauber1:20.857+2.10724
1777Valtteri BottasWilliams1:20.917+2.16736
189Marcus EricssonSauber1:21.219+2.46925
1928Will StevensMarussia1:23.234+4.48428
2098Roberto MerhiMarussia1:23.404+4.65431