Ricciardo leads Monaco FP1 with new track record

Daniel Ricciardo produced a new track record to lead Red Bull to a one-two finish in the first Formula 1 practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, edging out teammate Max Verstappen at the top of the timesheets.

Armed with the new-for-2018 Hypersoft tyre, a new fastest time around the streets of Monaco looked to be a formality through the race weekend, but Ricciardo wasted little time in beating Kimi Raikkonen’s benchmark from Q3 last year of 1m12.178s.

Ricciardo dipped half a tenth below Raikkonen’s 2017 pole lap to end the session with a top time of 1m12.126s, beating Verstappen by 0.154s in the final classification.

Verstappen was able to complete a one-two for Red Bull, but is set to visit the stewards after the session for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner. Verstappen ran straight on at Sainte Devote midway through the session before reversing back onto the circuit, sparking race control’s interest.

Lewis Hamilton finished as the best of the rest for Mercedes in third place, three-tenths of a second back from Ricciardo at the top. Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen could only finish fourth and fifth respectively, both nine-tenths of a second off hte pace.

Carlos Sainz Jr. impressed for Renault to finish sixth ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes, with Force India’s Sergio Perez taking eighth.

Haas' Romain Grosjean wound up P9 despite losing some track time after losing some bodywork from his car, requiring a floor replacement, while Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin recovered from an early tap on the wall along the main straight to complete the top 10.

There was more bad news in the second Haas car as Kevin Magnussen was sidelined for the majority of the session by a susepected injector issue, leaving the Dane at the foot of the timesheets. McLaren's Fernando Alonso also had a brake issue on his car that forced the team to replace his floor, with the Spaniard only recovering to 17th come the end of the session.

Esteban Ocon finished the session 11th for Force India ahead of Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley, with Nico Hulkenberg taking P13 in the second Renault. Pierre Gasly took P14 in front of Stoffel Vandoorne for McLaren, with home driver Charles Leclerc ending FP1 16th for Sauber. Behind Alonso, Williams' Lance Stroll followed in P18, with Marcus Ericsson taking 19th ahead of Magnussen.