Monaco, FP1: Lewis Hamilton fastest in opening practice

Max Verstappen claimed a surprise second place

By Franck Drui

21 May 2015 - 11:31
Monaco, FP1: Lewis Hamilton fastest in

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.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:18.750 49
02 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso Renault 1:18.899 42
03 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Renault 1:19.086 27
04 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:19.134 31
05 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Renault 1:19.245 40
06 Pastor Maldonado Lotus Mercedes 1:19.454 35
07 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Renault 1:19.520 33
08 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.679 31
09 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:19.762 47
10 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:19.766 32
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:19.791 28
12 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:20.202 15
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus Mercedes 1:20.274 34
14 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:20.619 35
15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:20.784 34
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:20.857 24
17 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:20.917 36
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:21.219 25
19 Will Stevens Manor Ferrari 1:23.234 27
20 Roberto Merhi Manor Ferrari 1:23.404 31

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