Monaco GP: Hamilton sets fastest ever lap to lead FP1

The Mercedes driver clocked a 1m13.425s on Pirelli's ultrasoft tyres to finish 0.196s clear of Vettel on the streets of the Principality.

It was the fastest ever lap recorded at the historic circuit.

Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull team was running a T-wing for the first time, set the fastest first sector, but lost time in the middle part of the lap and ended up third quickest, 0.346s off the pace.

The teenager spent a lot of the time in the garage, after Red Bull spotted a "potential right rear puncture" and called him into the pits, and he did his best time in the latter part of the session.

It took just a few minutes before the first serious timed lap was put on the board, with drivers keen to clock up mileage and build confidence.

Ferrari and Red Bull ran the ultrasofts straight away, while Mercedes focused its early running on the supersofts.

Vettel was the early pace-setter, but he was deposed when Mercedes swapped to the ultrasofts with just over 50 minutes to go.

Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton traded fastest laps, with the latter clocking the fastest time on the fourth lap of his run.

Bottas ended up fourth, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, who was the best-placed driver on the supersofts.

Kimi Raikkonen, who kissed the barrier at the Swimming Pool but escaped without damage, was seventh, more than half-a-second slower than teammate Vettel.

Sergio Perez was eighth, ahead of Carlos Sainz, who like his teammate was on the supersofts, and Esteban Ocon.

Felipe Massa was 11th for Williams, 1.192s off the pace, with Kevin Magnussen 12th.

McLaren's Jenson Button, standing in for Fernando Alonso this weekend, focused his early running on the soft tyre.

The 2009 world champion then switched to the ultrasoft to go 14th quickest, a tenth and a half slower than teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

Romain Grosjean, who spun at Sainte Devote but continued, was 15th.

Nico Hulkenberg failed to complete a flying lap, as Renault spent most of the session investigating a problem with the energy store.

Marcus Ericsson also failed to get a time on the board after encountering a gearbox problem.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	40	1'13.425
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	34	1'13.621	0.196
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	32	1'13.771	0.346
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	40	1'13.791	0.366
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	45	1'13.854	0.429
6	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	42	1'14.111	0.686
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	37	1'14.164	0.739
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	32	1'14.201	0.776
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	39	1'14.333	0.908
10	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	39	1'14.425	1.000
11	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	37	1'14.617	1.192
12	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	38	1'14.813	1.388
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	34	1'14.870	1.445
14	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	35	1'14.954	1.529
15	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	33	1'15.321	1.896
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	44	1'15.595	2.170
17	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	42	1'15.949	2.524
18	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	33	1'16.258	2.833
19	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	3
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	3