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Lewis Hamilton leads way in Monaco but rain ruins F1 practice Lewis Hamilton leads way in Monaco but rain ruins F1 practice
(about 2 hours later)
Lewis Hamilton again topped the timesheet in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix but the rain-affected second session put a dampener on things for Formula One fans. Lewis Hamilton, as if to prove himself worthy of the new three-year, £100m contract he has signed with Mercedes – was quickest in both practice runs here on Thursday.
Fresh from signing a £100m, three-year deal with Mercedes on Wednesday, the 30-year-old had spoke of his desire to achieve a “perfect weekend” in the principality. The afternoon session was shortened by rain but Hamilton still had time to show he was 0.74 seconds quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg, with Sebastian Vettel third in his Ferrari. Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, two-tenths of a second slower than Vettel.
Things certainly look promising for Hamilton, who bettered his quickest time of the first free practice session with a best lap time of 1min 17.192sec. But it was a dismal session for race fans – less than 15 minutes in, Manor’s Roberto Merhi crashed into the barriers, causing the red flags to be waved. Six minutes later the action returned, but more rain forced the teams back into their garages and by the time it had relented, and the mopping up had taken place, there was time for only 10 minutes more action.
No driver managed more than 10 laps before the red flag was raised after Manor’s Roberto Merhi crashed into the wall after coming out of the tunnel. Hamilton was also dominant in the morning run, this time finishing ahead of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, followed by Vettel, Carlos Sainz and Pastor Maldonado. He was a second faster than Rosberg, who was back in ninth place. Hamilton was also 1.6 seconds faster than he was in the afternoon.
The incident coincided with a turn in the weather, with rain sending the remaining 19 cars back to the garage. Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado tip-toed back out on to the track on supersoft tyres but quickly returned after saying it was “raining too much”. Teams were reluctant to follow given no rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday, leading to a number of fans jeering in frustration. There had been heavy overnight rain and even in the morning there was an atmosphere of chill dampness before FP1 got under way.
Fernando Alonso made his way out with just over 10 minutes remaining but the McLaren driver, like the rest of the grid, had no choice but to take it easy. Hamilton is looking for his first win here since his championship year of 2008, while Rosberg will be attempting to become the third driver to score a hat-trick of wins here, following Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna, who actually did five on the spin (1989-2003). Hamilton goes into Sunday’s Monaco Grahd Prix with a 20-point lead over Rosberg.
Unsurprisingly, no one managed to post a better lap so the standings stayed as they were when the red flag came down. Apart from the 30-year-old, the most eye-catching performance on Thursday arrived from Max Verstappen. The 17-year-old came second to the world champion in the morning and in the afternoon the Toro Ross driver was seventh. It was also an impressive day for Verstappen’s team-mate Carlos Sainz, who was fifth and sixth.
Nico Rosberg finished ninth in the first practice session but improved this afternoon by finishing second, 0.740sec behind team-mate Hamilton. On a number of occasions this season Toro Rosso have appeared faster than their senior partners, Red Bull. They outqualified them in Barcelona, though Red Bill proved the quicker team on race day.
The Ferrari duo Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed them, with Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull and the Toro Rosso pair of Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen the next quickest. “It was a great performance by Max, by a man who is still too young to hire a car,” said Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal.
McLaren’s Alonso finished eighth in the second session and Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez closed out the top 10. Meanwhile Alex Wurz, the chairman of the grand prix drivers’ association (GPDA), appeared in the paddock on Thursday to announce that F1’s drivers wanted to hear the voice of race fans, with whom thy are conducting a survey. He said: “The survey is going on-line as we speak. We think it might become the biggest fan survey ever conducted in sport. It will continue for two weeks.
Williams’s Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas placed ahead of Maldonado and Jenson Button, who endured a tough first session after his McLaren was only able to enter the fray after a 50-minute mechanical delay. “We want to communicate as drivers. We want to talk to our fans. We want to know what they think. And we want to be the interface between the drivers and the rule-makers. Modern communications allow us to do this. There is no sign we think the sport is in crisis. We just want to support the sport and future decisions. Though maybe there will be such a mixed message that there is no answer.”
Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Nasr of Red Bull and Sauber, respectively, followed in the second session, with Manor’s Merhi and Will Stevens finishing 18th and 19th. Marcus Ericsson of Sauber did not get out of the pits due to a technical issue.
The morning session certainly was a more interesting spectacle, with Toro Rosso’s Verstappen the main talking point. A fine finish to the 17-year-old’s first session around Monaco saw him secure the second fastest lap, 0.149sec behind Hamilton. Ricciardo of Red Bull finished third.