Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has gone quickest in the opening practice session in Monte Carlo, just pipping Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the top spot. With the first 90 minutes of track time taking place under grey and cloudy skies, the low track temperature of 26 degrees meant that grip wasn’t particularly good early in the session. It took until the halfway mark of the session for Hamilton to do his time, slowly ramping up as the track improved.
His time would go unbeaten, although Max Verstappen came very close. The Red Bull driver did a 1:12.165 to go P2, just 0.059 off the back of the Mercedes with both using the same Soft tyre compound. However, Verstappen did his time about fifteen minutes after the Mercedes with slightly different track conditions.
Scuderia Ferrari struggled to put up much of a fight at the front, with Charles Leclerc leading its charge in fourth place, three-tenths of a second back from Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel was even further adrift, ending the session 0.7 seconds off the benchmark time in fifth place.
Full results from opening practice for the Monaco Grand Prix at the Circuit de Monaco, round six of the 2019 Formula 1 season:
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1m12.106s
2. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 0.059s
3. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.072s
4. Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari + 0.361s
5. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari + 0.717s
6. Pierre Gasly FRA Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 1.083s
7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault F1 Team + 1.121s
8. Kevin Magnussen DEN Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.126s
9. Kimi Raikkonen ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 1.257s
10. Romain Grosjean FRA Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.273s
11. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Renault F1 Team + 1.307s
12. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 1.331s
13. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.625s
14. Alexander Albon THA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.721s
15. Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 2.172s
16. Sergio Perez MEX SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 2.460s
17. George Russell GBR ROKiT Williams Racing + 3.009s
18. Robert Kubica POL ROKiT Williams Racing + 3.408s
19. Lance Stroll CAN SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 4.029s
20. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren F1 Team no time
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