Practice report
Formula 1 Monaco GP
Monaco GP: Hamilton tops incident-filled first practice
World champion Lewis Hamilton topped an incident-filled first practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: May 26, 2016, 8:06 PM
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The Briton used the new ultrasoft tyres to set a best time of 1:15.537, outpacing teammate Nico Rosberg by 0.101 seconds and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by over four tenths.
Mercedes was the only team to run exclusively with the ultrasofts during the 90 minutes.
Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth in the quickest Red Bull, ahead of Spanish GP winner Max Verstappen.
Daniil Kvyat was sixth in the fastest Toro Rosso, with Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in seventh and eighth respectively.
Kimi Raikkonen was down in ninth in the second Ferrari, as Carlos Sainz completed the top 10.
Story of the session
The Mercedes duo were the first to complete a timed lap before the 10-minute mark, both using the ultrasoft tyres, with Rosberg leading Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second.
But a series of quick laps by Hamilton saw the Briton improve his laptime rapidly as he got used to the new compound, his best dropping to a 1:16.588 15 minutes into the session and putting him nearly two seconds clear of Rosberg at that point.
A Virtual Safety Car period was triggered by Felipe Massa with some 25 minutes gone when the Brazilian lost the rear end of his Williams and crashed against the barriers at St Devote.
The car was quickly removed by the marshals, but Massa was unable to return to the track and managed just 10 laps.
Ricciardo, using the upgraded Renault engine, began to show Red Bull's pace after that, the Australian jumping up to second, just 0.176s behind Hamilton.
Hamilton opened the gap before the halfway point, but Rosberg fought back and went quickest moments later, again using the ultrasoft tyres, the only compound used by Mercedes until that point.
The world champion, however, set a new benchmark around the 45-minute mark - a 1:15.537 - before running wide at St Devote. Hamilton, however, was able to avoid contact and rejoin the action.
A second Virtual Safety Car period was triggered by Esteban Gutierrez with less than 30 minutes go to, the Mexican's Haas car stopping before Portier after reporting problems with the engine, the team later specifying the stoppage was caused by electrical issues.
After the track was cleared, it took just a few seconds for the VSC to appear again as Renault's Jolyon Palmer crashed against the barriers at the exit of Tabac, his car suffering significant damage.
Another yellow-flag period was caused by Felipe Nasr, who went off at St Devote with 14 minutes left, the Brazilian having to turn his car around to rejoin the track.
The same incident was repeated by Kvyat moments later, again without consequences.
Another Virtual Safety Car period was caused by Rosberg with six minutes left on the clock, the German appearing to run over a manhole cover at St Devote.
Although he managed to keep going, he suffered a puncture to his rear left tyre and had to crawl back to the pits.
Jenson Button hit debris sent flying by Rosberg's car, destroying the McLaren's his front wing, his front right tyre also suffering a puncture.
Replays showed later than Button had actually hit a metallic manhole cover that had been lifted by Rosberg.
The session was red-flagged as a result of the incidents with just two minutes to go, and was not restarted.
Practice times:
PosDriverTeamTimeGapLaps 1 
Lewis Hamilton 
Mercedes 1:15.537 31 2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.638 +0.101 39 3 Sebastian Vettel 
Ferrari 1:15.956 +0.419 26 4 
Daniel Ricciardo 
Red Bull Racing 1:16.308 +0.771 29 5 
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:16.371 +0.834 30 6 
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:16.426 +0.889 37 7 Nico Hulkenberg 
Force India 1:16.560 +1.023 34 8 
Sergio Perez Force India 1:16.697 +1.160 28 9 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:16.912 +1.375 24 10 
Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:17.130 +1.593 39 11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:17.562 +2.025 44 12 
Romain Grosjean 
Haas F1 Team 1:17.599 +2.062 33 13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:17.838 +2.301 27 14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas F1 Team 1:17.909 +2.372 25 15 Jenson Button McLaren 1:17.920 +2.383 26 16 
Felipe Nasr 
Sauber 1:18.187 +2.650 29 17 
Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 Team 1:18.274 +2.737 34 18 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:18.301 +2.764 33 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:18.746 +3.209 10 20 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 Team 1:18.871 +3.334 22 21 
Rio Haryanto Manor Racing 1:20.528 +4.991 28 22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing 1:20.868 +5.331 25
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