Monaco (AFP)
Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas did not make gifts Thursday in the first free practice of the Monaco GP, still showing their dominance over their rivals.
Hamilton and Bottas were ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari and Pierre Gasly's Red Bull. But it is the gap that is impressive, more than 0.7 seconds separating the Mercedes from the defending champion of the Italian car of Vettel.
The free practice is more of a preparation and development session but at no time did the Ferrari seem to be able to approach the Silver Arrows. Charles Leclerc, teammate of Vettel and local stage, is even further in 10th position at 1.2 sec.
Mercedes reigns without sharing since the beginning of the season with five doubles in as many races. Hamilton leads the world championship standings with 112 points ahead of Bottas (105), Max Verstappen (Red Bull) with 66, Vettel (64) and Leclerc (57).
The Red Bulls were expected on the circuitous Monaco circuit, but Verstappen was able to achieve only 17 laps in the second free practice session, the Dutch encountering trouble in development. He was able to take the 6th time just under a second from Hamilton, but he was ahead of his teammate.
"The team is pretty strong here and it was a good day," said the Frenchman, hoping that this situation will be confirmed during qualifying on Saturday.
- Radio failure -
Disputed under a slightly overcast and cool weather, Thursday's free practice sessions saw a few minor rights and incidents. Only emotion at the beginning of the first session, the two Haas were stopped by the black flag which orders an immediate stop. In fact, the radios of the two pilots Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen did not work and it was the only way to make them understand to stop to repair them.
The Dane finally achieved the 7th best time of the day, while the Frenchman is further ahead in 11th position.
Disappointment again on the side of Renault who finished 16th with Nico Hulkenberg and 17th with Daniel Ricciardo.
Notable surprises include the excellent 5th place of the young Thai driver Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso), much faster than his Russian team-mate Daniil Kvyat. Also, the good behavior of the Alfa Romeo with Antonio Giovinazzi 8th and Kimi Räikkönen 9th.
If this domination of the Mercedes was to be confirmed in qualifying and Sunday in the race, the interest of the championship would be threatened, no other team seeming for the moment able to give them a concrete opposition.
The climate of the Monegasque race is also clouded by the death earlier this week of Austria's Niki Lauda, triple world champion in 1975, 1977 and 1984, who was non-executive vice president of the Mercedes team. .
? 2019 AFP