EL1: Ricciardo takes a Red Bull double, Hamilton in ambush

The tradition continues on the Rock. The first free practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix are not held on Friday, but on Thursday. On the urban route, these are the Red Bull who started this long weekend in the best possible way, under the sun.

Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) indeed finished the morning session with the best time: 1'12''126, achieved on hyper soft tires (pink sidewalls), presented for the first time in 2018. The Australian ran 154 thousandths faster that his teammate Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) follows by more than three tenths, but the bill turns out to be steeper for the Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel points at 915 thousandths and Kimi Räikkönen at 940 thousandths, almost a second spent on barely one lap.

The gaps are much more considerable with the rest of the peloton, led by the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault). The first Frenchman, Romain Grosjean (Haas, 9th), experienced a few cold sweats despite his good rank, with two touches with the safety rail and a change of flat bottom.

A time credited with the best lap, Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) exceeded the limits by damaging his right rear suspension against the pit wall. The Russian nevertheless ranks in a surprising 10th place (+1”836).

The briefest of touches is all it takes in Monaco #F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/3gR5vuGxqI

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24th May 2018

The other two French people are ranked in the second half of the table. Esteban Ocon (Force India) is 11th, Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 14th. The stage location Charles Leclerc (Sauber), who has a new helmet for his F1 debut in Monaco, recorded the 16th time.

Free Practice 2 will be held on Thursday from 14:50 p.m.

Free Practice 1 Monaco Ranking: