Nico Rosberg underlined Mercedes’ status as pre-race favourites in Monaco by setting the fastest time in the first practice session.
But Fernando Alonso lapped within a tenth of a second of Rosberg’s best effort and might have beaten it had he not been briefly delayed by Charles Pic on one lap.
Romain Grosjean posted a late improvement to take the third-fastest time off Felipe Massa. The second Ferrari driver had a near-miss with Max Chilton, forcing the Marussia to take evasive action after making a late swerve into the pit lane.
The second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest and was one of several drivers to lock up and go straight on at Sainte Devote. Pastor Maldonado gave some encouragement to Williams with the sixth-fastest time.
Last year’s winner Mark Webber was seventh followed by the two McLarens. Jenson Button had a brush with the barriers on one lap but his team told him he’d avoided damaging the car.
The other Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten, followed by Kimi Raikkonen. Next were the two Force Indias, with Adrian Sutil fortunate to avoid damaging his car after spinning at Sainte Devote.
Bright and sunny conditions greeted the teams for the first session of the weekend and track temperatures rose as high as 23C.
2013 Monaco Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Daimler/Hoch Zwei
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2013, 10:46
Rosberg seems to be really on a run, would be good if he can keep that up at least until the end of qualifying. Hamilton not quite on it.
And the Ferrari is right there on pace. Kimi took it a bit slow, not sure how satisfied he is. Vettel will be fast, but not sure about getting the front row here, might even get beaten by Webber again.
James (@iamjamm)
23rd May 2013, 11:02
I suspect Mercedes are holding something back, they seem to have done so at every other race this year. Rosberg does seem to have the upper hand at the moment, though. Will be interesting to see how/if Hamilton responds over the weekend.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd May 2013, 13:19
@iamjamm Dunno about that…They’ve been on pole enough and managed to squander it a couple of times. I suspect they’ll find a way to lose this one as well – even though it’s Monaco.
N
23rd May 2013, 11:52
“Hamilton not quite on it.”
You’re getting that from FP1 when he was running sensors n cabling around his front/rear wing/tyres?
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2013, 12:26
yes
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2013, 10:48
Did Rosberg do that fastest lap of his during a long stint?
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
23rd May 2013, 10:54
@bascb Yes, I believe it was a 28 lap stint.
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
23rd May 2013, 10:55
@bascb, Most drivers, including Rosberg, set their fastest time on their first proper outing onto the track, which in Rosberg’s case was about 11 laps long (fast laps alternating with cool-down laps).
On Ferrari, on Friday I often think, “wow, they look quick this weekend”, but then they disappoint in qualifying, so I don’t know how much we can take away from this session. One thing I did notice is that Mercedes seemed ok with tyre degradation (as well as all other teams), so they should be able to avoid another Barcelona fiasco.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2013, 10:50
Oh, and its nice to see that Maldonado seems on pace this weekend. No hitting any barriers, nor Perez either
Pete (@repete86)
23rd May 2013, 11:16
There’s still plenty of time for last year’s Maldonado to rear his head. He’s been clean this year so far, though that could be because his Williams isn’t fast enough to catch up with anyone he wants to ram,
David-A (@david-a)
23rd May 2013, 11:19
@repete86
Except Australia, where he crashed.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2013, 12:24
Might have been the KERS playing up though, as his team claimed
David-A (@david-a)
23rd May 2013, 12:48
@bascb Wasn’t that in Malaysia, where he parked in the gravel with a KERS issue? In Australia he swerved off the road into a spin.
Todfod (@todfod)
23rd May 2013, 12:05
Had me in splits on that one
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
23rd May 2013, 11:49
Hasn’t Maldonado always been strong on street circuits? In 2011 he was on for some good points at Monaco before Hamilton wiped him out. 2nd in qualifying in Singapore last year as well. It really saddens me to see Williams at the back so I hope there is an improvements.
F1Omer
23rd May 2013, 11:00
Just to let you all know that you can see Practice ‘Live’ for Free on German Satellite channel Sport1 on Astra 19.2 degrees East Vert polarised, frequency 12,480 mgHz. In between practice sessions they are showing shopping programmes so don’t be put off if you tune in too early for the next session, keep watching and Monaco will be revealed in all its glory.
Stretch (@stretch)
23rd May 2013, 11:26
That helmet camera was great, if perhaps a tad high on the helmet. I can’t recall if there has been a helmet cam this year or not.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
23rd May 2013, 11:51
So which Williams is running which spec there? The gap between the 2 cars is huge and I’m pretty sure the nose of one of those cars was pretty similar to the FW34 one, but I can’t remember which one. Did they revert Bottas’ car to the 2012 spec. or is it Maldonado’s?
Todfod (@todfod)
23rd May 2013, 12:10
Interesting to see Maldonado and Gorsjean flying during this practice sessions.
Ferrari looking strong race pace wise.. but I doubt we will see either Ferrari on the front row on Saturday.
I’m betting on Mercedes front row lockout, with Webber and Alonso on the 2nd row