Monaco: Hamilton over Verstappen in practice 1

Monaco: Partly sunny for practice 1 but rain is forecast for practice 2

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in first free practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, ahead of rookie Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

The defending champion improved his time throughout the 90 min. track cleaning session to an eventual 1min 18.750secs.

Rookie Verstappen emerged as his surprise closest contender in the Toro Rosso. The first time he has ever experienced the demanding street circuit in any racing car, the Dutchman showed no signs of inexperience as he drove to second place, just 0.149secs behind the Mercedes.

A strong session all-round for the Renault-powered machines at a venue that is set to prove less taxing for its down-on-speed engines, Verstappen was followed by Red Bull's Ricciardo in third place, while Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat ended the session fifth and seventh.

Between them, Sebastian Vettel led the Ferrari challenge in fourth position, three tenths off the top spot, while Pastor Maldonado's late improvement would see him jump to sixth fastest for Lotus.

A winner in Monaco for the last two seasons, Nico Rosberg's weekend got off to a poor start in ninth, more than a second behind Hamilton, while Williams also had an understated FP1, Felipe Massa in 10th and Valtteri Bottas in 17th position.

Practice 2 gets underway at 2:00 PM local time, though rain is forecast for the afternoon

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