2016 F1 Round 6 Monaco Grand Prix FP1 – Hamilton leads, Massa and Palmer crash

The Monaco Grand Prix weekend began in Monte Carlo on May 26. Hamilton topped FP1 with a 1:15.537, 0.101 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Vettel was third and the two Red Bulls were fourth and fifth, with the leading group closely matched on the narrow streets.

Archive television image from the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Hamilton first set the benchmark at 1:16.588 and then improved to a 1:16.057. Rosberg briefly moved ahead with a 1:15.825 before Hamilton responded with a 1:15.537, which remained the fastest lap.

Vettel finished third, Ricciardo fourth, Verstappen fifth and Kvyat sixth. Both Red Bulls were in the top five, with a Toro Rosso driver also in the top six. Räikkönen was ninth and Sainz tenth, leaving several midfield drivers between the two Ferraris.

Massa hit the barriers at Turn 1, badly damaging the left side of his Williams, while Palmer crashed at Tabac. Both teams were left with repair work, though the session’s red flag was caused by a drain cover that came loose later.

The loose drain cover first punctured Rosberg’s tyre and then flew up into Button’s McLaren front wing, damaging the front of the car. The red flag was shown with three minutes remaining and the session was not restarted.

Force India’s Hülkenberg and Pérez were seventh and eighth respectively. Bottas finished eleventh, Grosjean twelfth, Alonso thirteenth and Button fifteenth.

Haas driver Gutiérrez stopped on the approach to Portier with an engine problem and finished fourteenth. Massa completed only ten laps and was nineteenth, while Palmer was twentieth. Haryanto and Wehrlein filled the last two places.

Tyre choices varied. Kvyat was the highest-ranked driver who ran without ultrasoft tyres. Hamilton and Sauber’s Nasr both went up the escape road at Turn 1.