Red Bull takes 1-2 in FP1 as hypersofts make their F1 debut

Daniel Ricciardo was fastest in the first practice session of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Max Verstappen.

Ricciardo set the fastest time of 1min 12.126sec, beating team-mate Verstappen as the two traded places at the top of the leaderboard throughout the session.

The Dutchman was investigated for incorrectly rejoining the track after locking up into Turn 1, the stewards unhappy at his use of reverse gear.

Lewis Hamilton was third fastest ahead of the Ferrari pair led by Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes Valtteri Bottas finished seventh – behind Renault’s Carlos Sainz – as he focussed on long runs.

Sergio Pérez finished eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean, who made a late charge to take ninth place at the expense of Sergey Sirotkin. Williams team-mate Lance Stroll took 17^th.

Esteban Ocon took 11^th, ahead of Brendon Hartley who pipped Nico Hülkenberg to 12^th late in the session.

Pierre Gasly finished ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, whose team-mate Fernando Alonso (17^th) was resigned to the pits for most of the session as his return to Monaco was soured by what McLaren cited as a ‘sensor issue’. Alonso returned to the track with 10 minutes remaining.

Kevin Magnussen also had a mechanical issue and finished last, behind Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

With the hypersofts in use for the first time this season, Kimi Räikkönen’s 2017 pole lap of 1min 12.178sec has already been beaten.

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Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix FP1 results

1	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1min 12.126sec
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1min 12.280sec	+0.154sec
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1min 12.480sec	+0.354sec
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1min 13.041sec	+0.915sec
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1min 13.066sec	+0.940sec
6	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1min 13.456sec	+1.330sec
7	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1min 13.502sec	+1.376sec
8	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1min 13.717sec	+1.591sec
9	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1min 13.943sec	+1.817sec
10	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1min 13.962sec	+1.836sec
11	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1min 14.000sec	+1.874sec
12	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1min 14.034sec	+1.908sec
13	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1min 14.134sec	+2.008sec
14	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1min 14.240sec	+2.114sec
15	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1min 14.291sec	+2.165sec
16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1min 14.521sec	+2.395sec
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1min 14.637sec	+2.511sec
18	Lance Stroll	Williams	1min 14.782sec	+2.656sec
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1min 15.206sec	+3.080sec
20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1min 18.801sec	+6.675sec

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