Prac One: Hamilton wins Merc battle

Despite rivals hoping for a different outcome this weekend, first practice in Monaco concluded in yet another Mercedes 1-2 with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Nico Rosberg.

Although Rosberg had the edge throughout the first half of the 90-minute first practice, it was Hamilton who emerged as the driver to beat as the session entered the final 45 minutes.

Taking the P1 slot off his team-mate with a 1:18.271, Hamilton was 0.2s up on Rosberg.

The German, though, came back at him to finish FP1 just 0.032s down.

Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull Racing although much closer to the Mercedes drivers than in previous weeks.

The Red Bull racer’s 1:18.505 was 0.235s down on Hamilton’s best while Fernando Alonso by a further four-tenths behind.

Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest, 0.772s off the pace, while Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez completed the top eight.

Surprisingly there was only three notable incidents in the morning; a spin belonging to Max Chilton, a minor meeting with the barriers for Adrian Sutil and the other Sauber down an escape road.

Chilton was the first when he spun his car and was left facing the wrong direction, bringing out the yellow flags at Mirabeau. The marshals pushed his car to an escape road where it remained for the rest of FP1.

As for Sutil, he lost his C33 under braking, went into a slide and gently tagged the barrier at Mirabeau. That was the end of his session.

Two minutes before the end of practice his team-mate Esteban Gutierrez also brought out the yellow flags as he lost it and stopped down an escape road.

Times
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.271 32 laps
02 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:18.303 +0.032 31 laps
03 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:18.506 +0.235 37 laps
04 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:18.930 +0.659 31 laps
05 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:19.043 +0.772 33 laps
06 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.467 +1.196 31 laps
07 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:19.494 +1.223 31 laps
08 Sergio Perez Force India 1:19.666 +1.395 29 laps
09 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:19.789 +1.518 29 laps
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:19.856 +1.585 38 laps
11 Jenson Button McLaren 1:20.033 +1.762 35 laps
12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:20.118 +1.847 33 laps
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:20.207 +1.936 33 laps
14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:20.241 +1.970 38 laps
15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:20.260 +1.989 36 laps
16 Felipe Massa Williams 1:20.517 +2.246 25 laps
17 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:20.736 +2.465 18 laps
18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:20.914 +2.643 37 laps
19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:21.310 +3.039 27 laps
20 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:22.063 +3.792 40 laps
21 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:22.492 +4.221 38 laps
22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:25.817 +7.546 7 laps