Monaco GP: Hamilton tops incident-filled first practice

The Briton used the new ultrasoft tyres to set a best time of 1:15.537, outpacing teammate Nico Rosberg by 0.101 seconds and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by over four tenths.

Mercedes was the only team to run exclusively with the ultrasofts during the 90 minutes.

Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth in the quickest Red Bull, ahead of Spanish GP winner Max Verstappen.

Daniil Kvyat was sixth in the fastest Toro Rosso, with Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in seventh and eighth respectively.

Kimi Raikkonen was down in ninth in the second Ferrari, as Carlos Sainz completed the top 10.

Story of the session

The Mercedes duo were the first to complete a timed lap before the 10-minute mark, both using the ultrasoft tyres, with Rosberg leading Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second.

But a series of quick laps by Hamilton saw the Briton improve his laptime rapidly as he got used to the new compound, his best dropping to a 1:16.588 15 minutes into the session and putting him nearly two seconds clear of Rosberg at that point.

A Virtual Safety Car period was triggered by Felipe Massa with some 25 minutes gone when the Brazilian lost the rear end of his Williams and crashed against the barriers at St Devote.

The car was quickly removed by the marshals, but Massa was unable to return to the track and managed just 10 laps.

Ricciardo, using the upgraded Renault engine, began to show Red Bull's pace after that, the Australian jumping up to second, just 0.176s behind Hamilton.

Hamilton opened the gap before the halfway point, but Rosberg fought back and went quickest moments later, again using the ultrasoft tyres, the only compound used by Mercedes until that point.

The world champion, however, set a new benchmark around the 45-minute mark - a 1:15.537 - before running wide at St Devote. Hamilton, however, was able to avoid contact and rejoin the action.

A second Virtual Safety Car period was triggered by Esteban Gutierrez with less than 30 minutes go to, the Mexican's Haas car stopping before Portier after reporting problems with the engine, the team later specifying the stoppage was caused by electrical issues.

After the track was cleared, it took just a few seconds for the VSC to appear again as Renault's Jolyon Palmer crashed against the barriers at the exit of Tabac, his car suffering significant damage.

Another yellow-flag period was caused by Felipe Nasr, who went off at St Devote with 14 minutes left, the Brazilian having to turn his car around to rejoin the track.

The same incident was repeated by Kvyat moments later, again without consequences.

Another Virtual Safety Car period was caused by Rosberg with six minutes left on the clock, the German appearing to run over a manhole cover at St Devote.

Although he managed to keep going, he suffered a puncture to his rear left tyre and had to crawl back to the pits.

Jenson Button hit debris sent flying by Rosberg's car, destroying the McLaren's his front wing, his front right tyre also suffering a puncture.

Replays showed later than Button had actually hit a metallic manhole cover that had been lifted by Rosberg.

The session was red-flagged as a result of the incidents with just two minutes to go, and was not restarted.

Practice times:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:15.537		31
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:15.638	+0.101	39
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:15.956	+0.419	26
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:16.308	+0.771	29
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:16.371	+0.834	30
6	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:16.426	+0.889	37
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:16.560	+1.023	34
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:16.697	+1.160	28
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:16.912	+1.375	24
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:17.130	+1.593	39
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:17.562	+2.025	44
12	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	1:17.599	+2.062	33
13	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:17.838	+2.301	27
14	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas F1 Team	1:17.909	+2.372	25
15	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:17.920	+2.383	26
16	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:18.187	+2.650	29
17	Kevin Magnussen	Renault F1 Team	1:18.274	+2.737	34
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:18.301	+2.764	33
19	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:18.746	+3.209	10
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault F1 Team	1:18.871	+3.334	22
21	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing	1:20.528	+4.991	28
22	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing	1:20.868	+5.331	25