Button 14th for McLaren after 'flawless' return to action
Monday 29 May 2017 08:32, UK
Lewis Hamilton made a fast start to the Monaco GP weekend to pip championship leader Sebastian Vettel to the quickest time in Practice One.
With the two former champions separated by just six points in the Drivers' Championship heading into Formula 1's showpiece event, Hamilton and Vettel proved the early front-runners around the famous Monte Carlo circuit with the Mercedes taking initial bragging rights.
Hamilton's 1:13.425 was 0.196s faster than Vettel with F1 2017 cars already lapping at record pace around the twisty street track.
But, encouragingly for 2016 polesitters Red Bull, Max Verstappen was just 0.346s behind despite missing a third of the session after the floor was changed on his car.
"It bodes well for the weekend," said Sky F1's Martin Brundle. "The cars look a bit too good, they were sticking to the floor as if it were Practice Three.
"It looks incredibly close. The Mercedes may be a stretch limo wheelbase wise but it doesn't look like it around here. And Red Bull are close as well."
Valtteri Bottas set the early pace but slipped to fourth, nearly 0.4s adrift of his Mercedes team-mate, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth in the second Red Bull. Daniil Kvyat was an impressive sixth for Toro Rosso despite not using the ultrasofts.
Jenson Button, filling in for Fernando Alonso at McLaren this weekend, made his first on-track appearance since last November's Abu Dhabi GP.
The 2009 world champion played himself in steadily on his first morning driving the MCL32, spending his first stint on the slowest soft tyres before moving down to the quickest ultrasofts.
And Button ended up 14th, within two tenths of 2017 McLaren regular Stoffel Vandoorne.
"It's been a good performance by Jenson - but we shouldn't have expected anything else," said Sky F1's Ted Kravitz. "He's been absolutely flawless."
However, flawless was not the word used to describe Renault's engine reliability as an energy store issue restricted Nico Hulkenberg to just three laps. Sauber's Marcus Ericsson was also sidelined by mechanical trouble.
Monaco GP Practice One Timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:13.425
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +0.196
3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +0.346
4. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +0.366
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, +0.429
6. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, +0.686
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +0.739
8. Sergio Perez, Force India, +0.776
9. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +0.908
10. Esteban Ocon, Force India, +1.000
11. Felipe Massa, Williams, +1.192
12. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, +1.388
13. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1.445
14. Jenson Button, McLaren, +1.529
15. Romain Grosjean, Haas, +1.896
16. Lance Stroll, Williams, +2.170
17. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, +2.524
18. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, +2.833
19. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, No time set
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, No time set
*All times set on ultrasoft tyre apart from Kvyat and Sainz
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