Practice report
Formula 1 Monaco GP
Monaco GP: Ricciardo leads Red Bull 1-2 in FP1
Daniel Ricciardo led a Red Bull one-two in the opening practice session for Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: May 24, 2018, 11:46 AM
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Ricciardo jumped to the top of the times in the final third of FP1 to displace teammate Max Verstappen, who is under investigation for reversing back onto the track after an off at Ste Devote.
Lewis Hamilton was Red Bull's closest challenger in third, almost three tenths back for Mercedes, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel fourth but 0.9s in arrears.
Red Bull first moved to the top in the opening half hour by using the hypersoft tyres to displace the ultrasoft-shod Mercedes.
Valtteri Bottas had settled at the head of the field on a 1m14.347s after exchanging the place with teammate Hamilton before Ricciardo beat him by more than two tenths of a second.
Ricciardo and Verstappen then whittled the benchmark down, with Verstappen becoming the first to break the 1m13s barrier on a 1m12.941s.
That gave Red Bull a huge 1.2s gap over the Ferrari of Vettel, who moved into third on hypersofts, as the bulk of the track action stopped approaching the midpoint of the session.
Sergey Sirotkin was one of few outliers because the Williams driver had interrupted his earlier running when he clouted the pitwall earlier on entering the start-finish straight and deflated the right-rear tyre.
He jumped into the top 10 and stayed there as others improved to give Williams some early-weekend cheer.
At the head of the order Hamilton put Mercedes briefly back on top with his second lap on hypersofts, a 1m12.480s, but Verstappen beat that by a tenth soon after.
The Dutchman improved further to a 1m12.280s, before suffering a huge front-left lock-up into Ste Devote that put him down the escape road.
He was placed under investigation for failing to rejoin safely when he reversed on track with a Ferrari approaching the corner.
Ricciardo took a couple of attempts to take advantage after traffic in the final sector initially kept the Australian 0.056s adrift, but eventually beat him by 0.154s on a 1m12.126s.
That shuffled Hamilton to third and Vettel fourth in a Ferrari that is running pre-Spanish GP rear suspension configuration and has also come under intense scrutiny for its battery arrangement within the engine's energy recovery system.
Vettel finished just 0.025s ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen, while Renault's Carlos Sainz jumped to sixth with 20 minutes to go.
Valtteri Bottas's Mercedes was dumped to seventh as the Finn, wearing a Mika Hakkinen tribute helmet, struggled to post a truly competitive time on hypersofts.
McLaren had a tricky season, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso ending up 13th and 19th respectively.
Alonso missed most of the session as McLaren had to change the floor after a brake-by-wire problem, before appearing late on and improving to 17th.
Spanish GP star Kevin Magnussen was slowest as he and Haas teammate Romain Grosjean completed just 31 laps between them.
A late flier from Grosjean launched him into the top 10 behind Sergio Perez's Force India and ahead of Sirotkin.
ClaDriverChassisEngineLapsTimeGap 1 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 36 1'12.126 2 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 25 1'12.280 0.154 3 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 34 1'12.480 0.354 4 
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 40 1'13.041 0.915 5 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 38 1'13.066 0.940 6 
Carlos Sainz Renault Renault 40 1'13.456 1.330 7 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 39 1'13.502 1.376 8 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 39 1'13.717 1.591 9 
Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 24 1'13.943 1.817 10 
Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 40 1'13.962 1.836 11 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 39 1'14.000 1.874 12 
Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 46 1'14.034 1.908 13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 38 1'14.134 2.008 14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 38 1'14.240 2.114 15 
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 37 1'14.291 2.165 16 
Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 39 1'14.521 2.395 17 Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 16 1'14.637 2.511 18 
Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 43 1'14.782 2.656 19 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 39 1'15.206 3.080 20 
Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 7 1'18.801 6.675
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