Hamilton sets the quickest lap of Free Practice 1: Monaco GP

Monaco, 21 May 2015: 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.

2015 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.750 49
2 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:18.899 0.149 42
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:19.086 0.336 27
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:19.134 0.384 31
5 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:19.245 0.495 40
6 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:19.454 0.704 35
7 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:19.520 0.770 33
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.679 0.929 31
9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:19.762 1.012 47
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:19.766 1.016 32
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:19.791 1.041 28
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:20.202 1.452 15
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:20.274 1.524 34
14 Sergio Perez Force India 1:20.619 1.869 35
15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:20.784 2.034 34
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:20.857 2.107 24
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:20.917 2.167 36
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:21.219 2.469 25
19 Will Stevens Manor 1:23.234 4.484 28
20 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:23.404 4.654 31

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