FP1: Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas split by less than 0.1s

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuitmc

As running commenced around the streets of Monaco, Lewis Hamilton proved fastest in his Mercedes. The Brit however was closely matched by Max Verstappen and team mate Valtteri Bottas.

While the relative performances are only really revealed in second practice, Mercedes seem to be on good form once again.

Home driver Charles Leclerc was the fastest of the Ferrari drivers and managed to go fourth fastest. He wasn't as close as he would've liked though, leaving nearly 4 tenths on the table. Sebastian Vettel was 5th fastest, another tenth further behind, but still ahead of Pierre Gasly behind the wheel of the second Red Bull.

The surprise of the morning came from Nico Hulkenberg. The Renault driver who struggled through the recent races kicked off his Monaco Grand Prix weekend in great fashion by taking 7th, just a tenth slower than Red Bull's Gasly. Hulkenberg will be eager to lead the midfield challengers to keep the front runners on their toes.

Overall, the session ran without major incidents, but many drivers were seen making small errors. Robert Kubica came closest to a crash, and spun, but got away with a mild touch with the barriers.

Before that, both Haas were bizarrely black flagged early on in the session. After the team found out they had lost telemetry and radio communication to both their cars, they conveniently asked the race director to help out, forcing both drivers back into the pits to resolve the matter.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had the most disappointing session of all. He spent most of the session in the garage as his team were fixing a power unit issue. The Spaniard did eventually come out at the end of the session, to complete just 4 laps in the 90 minute-lasting first session.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:12.106-47
233Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda1:12.165+0.059s35
377Valtteri BottasMercedes1:12.178+0.072s43
416Charles LeclercFerrari1:12.467+0.361s25
55Sebastian VettelFerrari1:12.823+0.717s36
610Pierre GaslyRed Bull Racing Honda1:13.170+1.064s41
727Nico HulkenbergRenault1:13.227+1.121s45
820Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:13.232+1.126s24
97Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:13.363+1.257s39
108Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:13.379+1.273s23
113Daniel RicciardoRenault1:13.413+1.307s41
1299Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:13.437+1.331s39
1326Daniil KvyatScuderia Toro Rosso Honda1:13.731+1.625s40
1423Alexander AlbonScuderia Toro Rosso Honda1:13.827+1.721s45
154Lando NorrisMcLaren Renault1:14.278+2.172s39
1611Sergio PerezRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:14.566+2.460s40
1763George RussellWilliams Mercedes1:15.115+3.009s40
1888Robert KubicaWilliams Mercedes1:15.514+3.408s24
1918Lance StrollRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:16.135+4.029s37
2055Carlos SainzMcLaren Renault2:00.670+48.564s4