Daniel Ricciardo edged out team mate Max Verstappen to put Red Bull ahead of the field in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The senior bulls achieved their fastest on the pink hypersoft tyre, as did fellow front-running followers Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.
Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1:12.126s
36
2
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:12.280s
+ 0.154s
25
3
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:12.480s
+ 0.354s
34
4
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:13.041s
+ 0.915s
40
5
Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari
1:13.066s
+ 0.940s
38
6
Carlos Sainz
Renault
1:13.456s
+ 1.330s
40
7
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
1:13.502s
+ 1.376s
39
8
Sergio Pérez
Force India
1:13.717s
+ 1.591s
39
9
Romain Grosjean
Haas
1:13.943s
+ 1.817s
24
10
Sergey Sirotkin
Williams
1:13.962s
+ 1.836s
40
11
Esteban Ocon
Force India
1:14.000s
+ 1.874s
39
12
Brendon Hartley
Toro Rosso
1:14.034s
+ 1.908s
46
13
Nico Hülkenberg
Renault
1:14.134s
+ 2.008s
38
14
Pierre Gasly
Toro Rosso
1:14.240s
+ 2.114s
38
15
Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren
1:14.291s
+ 2.165s
37
16
Charles Leclerc
Sauber
1:14.521s
+ 2.395s
39
17
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
1:14.637s
+ 2.511s
16
18
Lance Stroll
Williams
1:14.782s
+ 2.656s
43
19
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
1:15.206s
+ 3.080s
39
20
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1:18.801s
+ 6.675s
7
The bulk of the field kicked off FP1 and their installation laps on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyre, a compound that will be omnipresent this weekend.
Hamilton and Bottas swapped positions at the top the timesheet in the early part of the session, but an up-to-speed Daniel Ricciardo soon overhauled both Silver Arrows.
The weekend’s first yellow flag was brandished after just 15 minutes, courtesy of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin strangely hitting the pitwall on the inside as he came out of the final corner.
Verstappen took over from his team mate at the top but the Aussie recouped the lead while Vettel moved himself and Ferrari into the top three around 30 minutes in to the session.
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Engine deficit reduced in Monaco say Red Bull drivers
Red Bull’s duo continued to lay down the markers however with Maximum Max deposing once again the Honey Badger, with both bulls running on the hypersoft rubber.
Meanwhile, down at McLaren, Fernando Alonso was complaining of a long brake pedal. The team’s initial diagnosis found nothing wrong but given the persistence of the issue, the crew decided to take the floor off the Spaniard’s MCL33 to investigate more thoroughly.
Halfway through the session, Lewis Hamilton upped the pace, achieving a benchmark time of 1m12.480s that put him at the top of the leaderboard and 0.243s clear of Verstappen.
The 20-year-old fought back immediately however, edging out the Mercedes by 0.114s before heading down the Ste Devote escape road after a massive lock-up.
The Red Bull driver’s reverse move back on to the track was frowned upon however by the stewards who decided to investigate the driver for “failing to rejoin the track in a safe manner”.
Back at the tail end of the field, Alonso was joined by both Haas drivers in the “minimum number of laps accomplished” department, with McLaren and the US outfit dealing with their respective issues.
With twenty minutes to go in the first practice session, Ricciardo again deposed his team mate with a 1m12.126s lap that put him 0154s clear of Verstappen.
Positions remained unchanged at the front, the Milton Keynes-based outfit and its two bulls confirming at the outset their status as favourites for the Monaco Grand Prix.
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