While the other teams struggled with graining tires, Mercedes hinted at a possible tire-warming concern but were very hooked up for both practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.
Mercedes certainly looks like the team to beat in the principality with Ferrari the closest but Max Verstappen’s Red Bull looking like a possible trouble-maker as well. Ferrari struggled with tires, grip and the issues that have plagued for the last five races.
Max was quick but sat out for a large chunk of the FP2 session with a damaged cooling system. His teammate, Pierre Gasly had a good run in FP2 up to 4th quickest while their sister car, the Toro Rosso, did a fantastic job in the hands of Alex Albon running 5th quickest in FP2.
Both Alfa Romeo’s ran in the top ten and Haas F1—having recovered from a complete IT crash that forced the team to ask the FIA to black-flag both their drivers as they lost all communication with them—managed to run 7th quickest in the hands of Kevin Magnussen.
FP1
| POS | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m12.106s | – | 47 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Honda | 1m12.165s | 0.059s | 35 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m12.178s | 0.072s | 43 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m12.467s | 0.361s | 25 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m12.823s | 0.717s | 36 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull/Honda | 1m13.170s | 1.064s | 41 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m13.227s | 1.121s | 45 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m13.232s | 1.126s | 24 |
| 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 1m13.363s | 1.257s | 39 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m13.379s | 1.273s | 23 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1m13.413s | 1.307s | 41 |
| 12 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 1m13.437s | 1.331s | 39 |
| 13 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m13.731s | 1.625s | 40 |
| 14 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m13.827s | 1.721s | 45 |
| 15 | Lando Norris | McLaren/Renault | 1m14.278s | 2.172s | 39 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point/Mercedes | 1m14.566s | 2.460s | 40 |
| 17 | George Russell | Williams/Mercedes | 1m15.115s | 3.009s | 40 |
| 18 | Robert Kubica | Williams/Mercedes | 1m15.514s | 3.408s | 24 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point/Mercedes | 1m16.135s | 4.029s | 37 |
| 20 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren/Renault | 2m00.670s | 48.564s | 4 |
FP2
| POS | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m11.118s | – | 41 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m11.199s | 0.081s | 48 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m11.881s | 0.763s | 42 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull/Honda | 1m11.938s | 0.820s | 39 |
| 5 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m12.031s | 0.913s | 51 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Honda | 1m12.052s | 0.934s | 17 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m12.174s | 1.056s | 54 |
| 8 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 1m12.239s | 1.121s | 51 |
| 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 1m12.342s | 1.224s | 51 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m12.350s | 1.232s | 42 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m12.392s | 1.274s | 51 |
| 12 | Lando Norris | McLaren/Renault | 1m12.393s | 1.275s | 27 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | McLaren/Renault | 1m12.419s | 1.301s | 47 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m12.577s | 1.459s | 39 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point/Mercedes | 1m12.752s | 1.634s | 44 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m12.872s | 1.754s | 49 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1m12.888s | 1.770s | 53 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point/Mercedes | 1m14.558s | 3.440s | 40 |
| 19 | George Russell | Williams/Mercedes | 1m15.052s | 3.934s | 37 |
| 20 | Robert Kubica | Williams/Mercedes | 1m15.146s | 4.028s | 45 |
Really struggling to keep some sort of enthusiasm for this season. There better be some rain during Quali to mix things up or I might not even watch the race.