FP1: Red Bull off to a strong start

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Having set their targets on pole position this weekend, Red Bull Racing enjoyed a strong start to the Monaco GP weekend. Daniel Ricciardo set the pace, 0.154s faster than his Dutch team mate, Max Verstappen. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton ended up third fastest, 4 tenths down on the pace setter.

The fastest Ferrari was that of Sebastian Vettel in 4th, narrowly matched by Kimi Raikkonen. The scarlet cars were however nearly a full second down on the Red Bulls.

Carlos Sainz enjoyed a good session in 6th, topping Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. Three more teams were represented in the top 10, with Perez, Grosjean and Sirotkin making sure Force India, Haas and Williams were well positioned.

Grosjean though didn't have the smoothest session, again, as he scrubbed the barriers after pushing a little bit too much. He came away undamaged, which cannot be said of Sirotkin. The Williams driver ended up into the barriers on the main straight, ending up with a flat tyre due to a badly damaged rim. He crawled back to the pitlane to get a set of new tyres.

On the troubled end of the timesheet is Kevin Magnussen. The Dane was sidelined for most of the session as there was a connector issue on his car. Both McLaren drivers on the other hand complained of poor balance, and as such did not end up in their usual positions.