Daniel Ricciardo is encouraged by Red Bull’s performance after lapping two tenths of a second off the Mercedes drivers’ pace during the first practice session.
“If we’re going to challenge the Mercs then I think this is the place for it,” said Ricciardo after Thursday’s two practice sessions.
“They don’t seem to have one sector at the moment which is blowing everyone away, but obviously it’s still early days.”
Red Bull expected to be closer to Mercedes in Monaco because the track is predominantly slow corners with no long straights. However Ferrari were the second-fastest team on Thursday, thanks to Fernando Alonso’s flying lap on super-soft tyres at the end of second practice.
Not all the drivers managed to get a quick lap in on the faster rubber when the track was busy at the end of the session. Second practice began on a wet track which limited the amount of running the teams were able to do. As Saturday and Sunday are forecast to be warm and dry they saw little value in running until the track had dried.
There had been concerns over grip levels on the parts of the track where it has been resurfaced. The new Tarmac runs from Casino, through Mirabeau to the Tunnel, and two other smaller patches have also been relaid.
But after driving the track today Jenson Button was very pleased with the amount of grip he found. “Yesterday, I said that the new asphalt in the middle sector might lack grip, but I’m really pleased to be able to say that the organisers have done a fantastic job with the fresh surface,” he said.
“A lot of circuits could learn from the job they’ve done with the asphalt here: considering it’s brand new, it’s really good – there’s so much grip.”
Jean-Eric Vergne was another driver who got a quick lap in late in the second practice session, moving his Toro Rosso up the order. He was followed by Valtteri Bottas, and although he was significantly quicker than his team mate in both practice sessions, Felipe Massa was hindered with a power unit sensor problem.
Longest stint comparison – first practice
This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint.
Because wet conditions were forecast for the second practice session, most teams did their longest runs during the first:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 80.939 | 80.103 | 85.822 | 80.329 | 79.774 | 88.279 | 79.381 | 84.233 | 81.473 | 79.254 | 79.116 | 79.086 | |||
Daniel Ricciardo | 83.818 | 91.644 | 80.115 | 85.465 | 79.416 | 88.815 | 79.631 | 83.584 | 78.616 | 78.61 | 83.053 | 124.868 | |||
Lewis Hamilton | 82.205 | 80.576 | 80.542 | 81.097 | 82.572 | 80.305 | 82.768 | 80.338 | |||||||
Nico Rosberg | 87.753 | 81.496 | 78.564 | 78.303 | 87.428 | 81.336 | 81.033 | ||||||||
Fernando Alonso | 83.937 | 88.852 | 90.966 | 78.93 | 88.652 | 87.383 | 86.413 | 79.019 | 94.048 | 87.634 | 109.786 | 121.389 | |||
Kimi Raikkonen | 79.939 | 94.795 | 85.555 | 79.972 | 85.761 | 79.467 | 85.938 | 81.97 | 98.697 | 80.151 | 88.628 | 129.76 | |||
Romain Grosjean | 83.741 | 80.678 | 83.677 | 81.555 | 80.215 | 85.37 | 80.621 | 91.792 | 87.702 | 150.003 | |||||
Pastor Maldonado | 84.619 | 85.82 | 91.721 | 82.465 | 81.69 | 80.8 | 80.671 | 87.376 | 86.102 | 81.019 | 92.005 | 84.594 | 153.522 | ||
Jenson Button | 82.957 | 94.322 | 81.988 | 81.497 | 81.326 | 81.39 | 96.633 | 84.602 | 81.066 | 94.402 | 81.579 | 141.304 | |||
Kevin Magnussen | 83.183 | 81.645 | 82.705 | 86.565 | 81.25 | 82.45 | 84.961 | 129.35 | |||||||
Nico Hulkenberg | 84.931 | 87.961 | 82.64 | 89.13 | 81.504 | 96.383 | 90.272 | 91.415 | |||||||
Sergio Perez | 88.847 | 89.337 | 83.259 | 82.4 | 81.446 | 81.006 | 80.711 | 89.715 | |||||||
Adrian Sutil | 86.644 | 85.117 | 86.521 | 99.28 | 82.185 | 90.544 | |||||||||
Esteban Gutierrez | 85.373 | 82.095 | 88.365 | 81.137 | 84.766 | 83.722 | 81.084 | 93.045 | 81.18 | 86.806 | 80.704 | ||||
Jean-Eric Vergne | 83.836 | 80.958 | 93.412 | 88.146 | 80.288 | 94.389 | 80.384 | 92.989 | 80.26 | ||||||
Daniil Kvyat | 86.104 | 86.62 | 89.76 | 92.007 | 82.551 | 82.629 | 83.396 | 82.309 | 83.416 | 82.672 | 88.428 | 83.656 | 85.97 | 138.683 | |
Felipe Massa | 83.335 | 91.845 | 87.58 | 92.813 | 81.816 | 87.665 | |||||||||
Valtteri Bottas | 83.569 | 80.716 | 97.681 | 80.286 | 79.636 | 90.174 | 79.886 | 79.494 | 85.389 | ||||||
Jules Bianchi | 85.769 | 86.778 | 81.607 | 81.819 | 88.168 | 81.31 | |||||||||
Max Chilton | 88.135 | 89.569 | 85.817 | ||||||||||||
Marcus Ericsson | 85.719 | 83.293 | 82.839 | 82.551 | 95.801 | 82.264 | 85.37 | 82.063 | 90.897 | 85.648 | 87.893 | 86.013 | 89.647 | 90.542 | 147.882 |
Kamui Kobayashi | 88.816 | 84.488 | 82.492 | 85.633 | 86.317 | 83.341 | 86.788 | 103.774 | 178.941 |
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’18.271 | 1’18.901 | 44 | ||
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’18.303 | 1’22.862 | 42 | ||
3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’18.930 | 1’18.482 | 46 | ||
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’18.506 | 1’19.779 | 48 | ||
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’19.043 | 1’19.017 | 48 | ||
6 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’20.260 | 1’19.351 | 50 | ||
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.494 | 1’19.421 | 40 | ||
8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’19.467 | 1’45.509 | 35 | ||
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’19.666 | 1’19.668 | 38 | ||
10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’19.856 | 1’19.712 | 48 | ||
11 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’20.033 | 1’19.721 | 51 | ||
12 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’19.789 | 1’20.230 | 45 | ||
13 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.118 | 1’21.467 | 41 | ||
14 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’20.207 | 1’21.700 | 39 | ||
15 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1’20.241 | 1’20.977 | 45 | ||
16 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’20.517 | 1’20.394 | 33 | ||
17 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’20.914 | 1’20.622 | 50 | ||
18 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.736 | 1’20.811 | 36 | ||
19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’21.310 | 1’21.937 | 40 | ||
20 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1’22.492 | 1’21.924 | 44 | ||
21 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1’22.063 | 1’23.164 | 46 | ||
22 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’25.817 | 1’22.683 | 20 |
Speed trap – second practice
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed (kph) | Gap | |
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 287.9 | |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | Mercedes | 287.4 | 0.5 |
3 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia | Ferrari | 287 | 0.9 |
4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | Mercedes | 286.8 | 1.1 |
5 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 285.4 | 2.5 |
6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | Mercedes | 285.1 | 2.8 |
7 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | Renault | 283.9 | 4 |
8 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 283.7 | 4.2 |
9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 283.6 | 4.3 |
10 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | Ferrari | 282.5 | 5.4 |
11 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | Renault | 282.3 | 5.6 |
12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | Mercedes | 281.8 | 6.1 |
13 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | Ferrari | 280.2 | 7.7 |
14 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | Renault | 279.9 | 8 |
15 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | Renault | 279.6 | 8.3 |
16 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | Ferrari | 279.2 | 8.7 |
17 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | Renault | 277.3 | 10.6 |
18 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | Renault | 277.1 | 10.8 |
19 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 275.7 | 12.2 |
20 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | Renault | 274.2 | 13.7 |
21 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 267.4 | 20.5 |
22 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari | 260.4 | 27.5 |
2014 Monaco Grand Prix
- New radio reveals Hamilton’s suspicions in Monaco
- Bianchi wins Driver of the Weekend with first points
- Second-highest score of the year so far for Monaco
- 2014 Monaco Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- New leader after three perfect Monaco predictions
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd May 2014, 20:40
Curious that the W05s are at opposite ends of the speed trap chart with a 20kph difference. All other teammate pairs are very close. As everyone has max DF on here, that means either big gearing difference, or possibly Nico is not getting a good launch out of Portier.
gdewilde (@gdewilde)
22nd May 2014, 20:46
I think Nico’s speed isn’t correct. Shouldn’t be down in that chart so much
Dave (@dworsley)
22nd May 2014, 21:04
Don’t read anything into the speed trap numbers for the session. Half of the speeds (including Rosberg’s) were set on a damp track and were beginning to brake for the chicane when their speeds were recorded which explains the 20 km/h difference. There is unlikely to be any difference in gearing as the ratios are set at the start of the season (minus one change if they get things wrong).
Dave (@dworsley)
22nd May 2014, 21:04
The speeds are correct.
HiPn0tIc (@hipn0tic)
22nd May 2014, 21:57
The speed traps are right. And for that the strategies are obviously different. I think Nico is the guy the watch this weekend, obsviously the guy to beat is Hamilton. As for the RBR there are still a huge distance to the Mercedes, 0,2s at Monaco is still a long way.
BTW Monaco deserves a page for the Helmet’s :P @keithcollantine, and for that should be always a page with them updated, i love the helmet’s…
HiPn0tIc (@hipn0tic)
22nd May 2014, 22:04
Forget the last sentence, as always F1 Fanatic and @keithcollantine and his “crew” delivered and have done an awsome and complete job, that’s why i came here, amazing…
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
22nd May 2014, 22:01
Ricciardo did show Vettel up a bit during the first session – but of course, we don’t know fuel loads etc, so too early to draw conclusions.
John Mwesigwa (@sigwa)
22nd May 2014, 22:14
And Riccardo, thinks mercedes is not blowing them away. I just like the way they start talking in the media before race day then after the race they agree that th W05 seems to be running in another competition.
zippyone (@zippyone)
22nd May 2014, 22:24
I don’t really think they were trying to blow anyone away, just taking it easy, although of course it will be closer here anyway.
JCost (@jcost)
23rd May 2014, 11:42
Hope you’re right mate.
With a bit more development Marussia will be beating Sauber this year. Way to go guys, way to go.
Garns (@)
23rd May 2014, 12:53
The speed trap here surely the least important for the year.
Dan’s comments are fine, he is not likely to say “we are closer but they will still smash us” is he. Anyway, Dan is due to make a place or 2 on lap one, so no better place I say :)
timi (@timi)
23rd May 2014, 18:42
I think the asphalt’s high grip compared to new tarmac at other tracks, can be attributed to the fact Monaco has cars driving over it all day every day… Instead of just a few times a year like India, or Austin
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
23rd May 2014, 21:06
I think Ricciardo has a very good performance.
DaveD (@daved)
24th May 2014, 5:09
I think Mercedes is even further ahead than they were before. The only time I saw them running full out was during the dry spell in FP1 and they were a full 1.5 seconds ahead of everyone. Then they realized how obvious it was and started sand bagging. I’m telling you, it looked bad.