Hamilton leads as Verstappen stars in practice

2015 Monaco Grand Prix first practice

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Lewis Hamilton led the first practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix but a shock lap from Max Verstappen at the end of the session saw the Toro Rosso driver claim second place.

Verstappen, who is competing at Monaco for the first time this weekend, produced a lap of 1’18.899 to end the session within two-tenths of a second of Hamilton. Team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr underline Toro Rosso’s potential with fifth place.

Hamilton traded fastest times with Nico Rosberg in the middle of the session but ended up over a second clear of his Mercedes team mate. The winner of the last two races in Monaco finished the session ninth.

Rosberg had a moment early in the session when he clipped the barrier at the exit of the reprofiled Tabac corner, but avoided inflicting any serious damage on his car. Practice began on a slightly damp track and drivers opted for intermediate tyres for their installation laps before switching to slick rubber.

Sebastian Vettel also had a drama at Casino bend, the Ferrari slewing close to the barrier at the exit. He was bumped down to four that the end of the session by Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, who took fourth for Red Bull.

All four Renault-powered cars appeared in the top seven, the last of which was Daniil Kvyat, who complained about being held up by traffic. Pastor Maldonado took a strong sixth for Lotus.

The McLaren pair ended the session just outside the top ten, Fernando Alonso ahead of Jenson Button, the latter missing much of the first half of the session due to a technical problem.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’18.75049
233Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’18.8990.14942
33Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’19.0860.33627
45Sebastian VettelFerrari1’19.1340.38431
555Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’19.2450.49540
613Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’19.4540.70435
726Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’19.5200.77033
87Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’19.6790.92931
96Nico RosbergMercedes1’19.7621.01247
1019Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’19.7661.01632
1114Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’19.7911.04128
1222Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’20.2021.45215
138Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes1’20.2741.52434
1411Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’20.6491.89935
1527Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’20.7842.03434
1612Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’20.8572.10724
1777Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’20.9172.16736
189Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’21.2192.46925
1928Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’23.2344.48428
2098Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’23.4044.65431

First practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.750

+0.149 Max Verstappen – 1’18.899

+0.336 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’19.086

+0.384 Sebastian Vettel – 1’19.134

+0.495 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’19.245

+0.704 Pastor Maldonado – 1’19.454

+0.770 Daniil Kvyat – 1’19.520

+0.929 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’19.679

+1.012 Nico Rosberg – 1’19.762

+1.016 Felipe Massa – 1’19.766

+1.041 Fernando Alonso – 1’19.791

+1.452 Jenson Button – 1’20.202

+1.524 Romain Grosjean – 1’20.274

+1.899 Sergio Perez – 1’20.649

+2.034 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’20.784

+2.107 Felipe Nasr – 1’20.857

+2.167 Valtteri Bottas – 1’20.917

+2.469 Marcus Ericsson – 1’21.219

+4.484 Will Stevens – 1’23.234

+4.654 Roberto Merhi – 1’23.404

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Keith Collantine
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18 comments on “Hamilton leads as Verstappen stars in practice”

  1. Last Year FP1 fastest time is also set by Lewis which is a 1:18.271 seems lot of cooler temps today than a year ago

  2. Impressive stuff from Verstappen! Underlines his driving style, which is similarly agressive to Senna’s.

    1. Yes, excellent lap. However, it seems to me that the 2nd place should be tempered by the fact that the track gained 2/3 degrees at the end of the session, the other drivers were caught in traffic so could not take advantage of this… Let’s see what happens this afternoon! :)

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        21st May 2015, 16:54

        They tried something in Spain which allowed them to qualify well but they were left defenceless in the race. It’d be interesting to see if they do something similar this weekend considering they’ll have much more scope to defend the position. Could be a bit of a disaster if you qualify just behind one of them….

  3. The Bulls’ resurgent?

    But seeing Kimi in 7th and Rosberg in 8th shows that teams didn’t push hard this session. Looking forward to FP2.

  4. With a drying track, FP1 is probably a bit misleading. Still, the Red Bulls and Toro Rossos are IMPRESSIVE.

    1. It was entirely dry from about ten minutes in…

  5. How do I navigate to the weather article for each go without scrolling back through loads of articles?

    1. maarten.f1 (@)
      21st May 2015, 12:49

      @sato113 At the top there’s a Monaco GP menu item, one of the sub menu items is for the weather article.

  6. Impressive lap from Max. For a driver that has never driven here before, he dialled in quick laps with ease.

    I don’t think Rosberg was pushing at all this session and nor was Bottas or Kimi.

    Impressive laps from Fernando as well. This could be Mclaren’s points breakthrough weekend

  7. I had hoped the McLarens would be somewhat higher in the rankings. A bit of a disappointing first practice, let’s hope for better in the next one.

  8. I don’t think any one can break the Hamilton’s record in this year. I always support Hamilton in any Grand Pix.

  9. wasn’t it Senna at the time when he was driving for a B rated team shined at Monaco and lit up his career with a astounding performance. Seems to be going that way for Max as well…

    1. Max is currently being dominated by his Team Mate.
      Not sure how Senna esque that is….

      1. Dominated by his teammate? Please explain how, because to me they really look quite similar at the moment. And that is while I am taking away his age and lack of experience.

        The lack of experience that people where using as an argument that he did not deserve his seat in f1 yet, is usually missed when laying claim that his teammate is so much better at the moment. Let me guess, you are one of those people?

      2. Max is being let down by his car more. Twice he would have finished ahead of Sainz, but then his car stopped. Even in the race that Verstappen did finish he had major technical difficulties.

    2. It’s FP1….. let’s not pop our corks over a hollywood FP lap

  10. Kimi’s gap is very large again…

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