Hello fellow F1 fanatics, here is the Monaco Grand Prix F1 Newsbites edition! Lets see what’s making the news and headlines from the weekend so far at the sport’s jewel in the crown.

 

 

Ricciardo leads Red Bull 1-2 in FP2

 

Daniel Ricciardo clean swept Monaco Grand Prix practice as he lead team-mate Max Verstappen in another Red Bull one-two in the second session at the legendary principality.

 

Ricciardo got the Milton-Keynes outfit off to a great start in the morning, setting the pace but it was Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen who took first place 19 minutes into the hour and a half session with a quick time of a 1:12.468 using the softest tyre available, the pink-walled hypersoft rubber.

 

The Dutchman slowly worked his way to a 1:12.071 on his first set and was on course of improving once again until the red flag was brought out just after 25 minutes.

 

This was for repairs to be made on the round down from Casino Square to Mirabeau, with race director Charlie Whiting checking out the work being done on what appeared to be a drain cover in the middle of the track.

 

When the session resumed 15 minutes after, Verstappen went out on fresh rubber and like many with Monaco’s challenges, struggled with traffic.

 

The Dutchman improved slightly to a 1:12.035, but his stint came to an end when he clipped the rear of Romain Grosjean’s Haas VF-18 racer at the hairpin while letting team-mate Ricciardo through and returned to the pits.

 

Ricciardo decided to run is qualifying simulation later than most of the field, eventually claiming the fastest ever lap around Monaco with a 1:11.841 with 22 minutes left in the session.

 

This put the Australian 0.194 seconds clear of Verstappen, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel taking the third quickest time 0.378 seconds adrift of Ricciardo’s benchmark.

 

The German posted his best effort on his eighth lap on the faster hypersoft compound and was a tenth quicker than Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, who was just nine thousandths of a second ahead of fifth-placed Kimi Raikkonen despite a slide through the second part of the swimming pool section.

 

The other Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas was sixth fastest and 0.099 seconds off of Raikkonen’s time, although the Finn was on the way to improving his effort when he aborted his flying lap and returned to the pits.

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg ended the day in seventh place, his best time was set on the hypersofts and ahead the McLaren pairing of Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso who were eighth and ninth respectively.

 

The other Renault RS18 racer of Carlos Sainz, which features upgraded bargeboards, completed the top ten and ended the day in-front of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley who was 11th quickest.

 

Sainz came close to hitting the wall near the end of the hour and a half practice session.

 

Hartley’s benchmark was set on his first stint on hypersofts, and on his second run he touched the wall exiting Sainte Devote on his first flyer and was unable to improve.

 

Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were 12th and 13th respectively and in-front of the second Honda-powered Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley who was 14th.

 

Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin took 15th place followed by Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc who were 16th and 17th.

 

The other Haas VF-18 of Grosjean finished a lowly 18th and ahead of Williams’ Lance Stroll and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson who brought up the rear.

 

All drivers completed their best laps using the pink-marked hypersoft tyres.

 

Ricciardo: “Red Bull strong in all conditions”

 

 

Red Bull were the dominant force on the opening day of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in Free Practice One and Two. Could the Milton-Keynes squad be living up to expectations as the team to beat on the famous and historic streets of Monte Carlo? The early signs say yes, with Daniel Ricciardo reporting that the RB14 racer is strong in all conditions.

 

Ricciardo finished ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen in each 90 minute session. In FP2, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the closest challenger to the RB14’s more than half a second off the pace.

 

It was a solid performance from the Milton-Keynes based outfit, who massive car update in Barcelona delivered huge downforce gains, which are crucial on Monaco’s tight and twisty streets.

 

Qualifying has been the team’s downside this season, which has partly come from the power deficit of the Renault power-train. However, Ricciardo was satisfied with the RB14’s one lap pace around Monte Carlo.

 

“It is going to tighten up on Saturday but all we can do today is try and top it and we did,” explained Ricciardo after the days running. “It’s a good start, both cars are strong.”

 

“Our long run looked decent. It is not everything around here, but we seem to good in all conditions at the moment. [Pole position] is the target. The intention this weekend was to try and win – and be dominant. Today is good. It is a good start.”

 

“We topped the sessions, so for now we have done all we can. We can find a bit more but we are more or less there and Saturday afternoon is going to be very close. We have a day off and I am sure Ferrari and Mercedes will start to put pressure on us.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

Sainz aiming higher after positive start in Monaco

 

 

Despite a strong start from both Renault RS18 racers getting into the top ten in FP2, Carlos Sainz insists there is still room to improve.

 

The Spaniard was sixth quickest in the morning session as Renault hit the streets testing their higher downforce package. Part of the upgrade included bargeboards, but were only run on Hulkenberg’s car and Sainz, who will be receiving the upgrade on Saturday, expects to move further up in the field later in the race weekend.

 

“A lot, I think.” explained Sainz on how much more is to come out of the Renault update. “Especially because I had quite a troubled FP2 with traffic in the last sector. I never really put a lap together like in FP1.”

 

“So there’s a lot to come from that side. Then the upgrades that Nico carried today on the car, it will be my turn to have them on Saturday if they arrive. So there are good things to come, I think.”

 

“Today was positive. [We were] always inside the top ten, always leaving a bit of margin here and there to improve on each lap, and to be honest it has been a positive day for the team. Both cars in the top ten again, Nico with the upgrade and it looks like it is working as we expected, so it’s good news from every side.”

 

“In terms of where the others are… For example McLaren maybe had problems in FP1 and they still might be a bit behind – and they have a lot of margin for improvement for Saturday. But from our side I think we more or less hit the ground running and we are happy.”

 

“I think the aim is to be the fourth best team in general, like it has always been. We need to take into account that today McLaren had a few issues in FP1 and they are running a bit behind in mileage, which on this track helps a lot. So they could improve a lot for Saturday but I am confident that we have also got a big margin for improvement for Saturday.”

 

On a track where power is less reliant, Red Bull were still over a second quicker than it’s power supplier Renault during yesterday’s running, something that reduced Sainz’ excitement about being the best of the rest after the big three.

 

“It shows that there’s work to do,” Sainz continued. “I think it’s obvious, it’s clear that Red Bull have a very strong chassis, probably the strongest in Formula 1 at the moment. It just shows that there is work to do in every area of this Renault project.”

 

“[That includes] the engine. As soon as we arrive in Monaco, suddenly Red Bull looks to be stronger in the chassis because we are still a second off Red Bull. There’s margin to improve everywhere and that’s what we’re working on.” Sainz concluded.

 

Renault currently sit fourth in the Constructors Championship, only a point in-front of rivals McLaren.

 

Sauber F1 Team: “A Productive Day”

 

 

It was a productive day for both Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team’s drivers Charles Leclerc, who experienced the streets of his hometown in a Formula 1 car for the first time and Marcus Ericsson.

 

Both drivers worked on preparation for the race with the Monaco circuit layout proving quite challenging for the Hinwil-based outfit.

 

Leclerc was content with the day overall, with the Monegasque driver 16th quickest in the opening session and 17th in the afternoon running.

 

“It was a productive day for us,” explained Leclerc.” “It ran quite smoothly overall. We know that this track is going to be a challenge for us, and we have used today’s practice sessions to start setting up our car in the best possible way.”

 

“We will now look at our data and start working on preparations for tomorrow’s qualifying session. I look forward to being back in the car.” Leclerc said.

 

On the other side of the garage, Ericsson was happy with the days running despite finishing at the rear in both sessions (19th and 20th) and completing a total of 85 laps.

 

“It has been quite a good day,” said Ericsson.” “It is important to get in a lot of laps on Thursday in Monaco, so that is a positive for us. We struggled a bit of the hypersoft tyres, but apart from that it was a smooth day.”

 

“We built up the speed and have a good base to work from for Saturday and Sunday. I look forward to the rest of the weekend.” Ericsson concluded.

 

McLaren appoint De Ferran as advisor

 

 

With the Woking-based squad continuing to push their bid to return to the top, McLaren have appointed former IndyCar champion Gil De Ferran as the team’s advisor.

 

De Ferran who never raced in F1, but was a Sporting Director with BAR Honda from 2005-2007, was seen in the McLaren garage earlier in the season with McLaren CEO Zak Brown telling reporters in Monaco that he will be working with the team’s young talent, which includes Formula 2’s Lando Norris and Nyck De Vries as their reserve and development drivers.

 

“Gil’s a good friend of McLaren,” explained Brown. “We’ve brought him on as an advisor to McLaren. We want him to help with our young drivers.”

 

Brown also dropped a hint that De Ferran could help McLaren extend their presence in other categories, with IndyCar being seriously considered, following Fernando Alonso’s special appearance in a McLaren-Andretti entry at last year’s 100th year running of the Indianapolis 500.

 

De Ferran was back-to-back CART Champion in 2000 and 2001 and also won the Indy 500 in 2003 for Team Penske, having spent most of his career in the United States.

 

In the 2010-11 IndyCar seasons, he merged his team with Luczo Dragon Racing, a team started by Jay Penske, son of De Ferran’s former boss Roger Penske, and Steve Luczo, a technology leader and enthusiast. The team was named De Ferran Dragon Racing.

 

“We are looking at some other forms of motorsport, most notably IndyCar is under review,” continued Brown. “[Gil] obviously has great history there -­ having owned a team, won the Indy 500 – and generally is a great racer that knows his way around a garage, and so any expertise he has that he can volunteer to help us improve, we’re very open-minded to that.

 

“You’ll see him around: in Detroit at the IndyCar race in a couple of weeks’ time and around our Formula 1 garage often.” Brown concluded.

 

McLaren currently sit fifth in the Constructor’s Championship behind their engine supplier and works team Renault.

 

Ferrari pleased with first day of practice

 

 

At the end of Thursday’s practice outing in Monaco, as the track continued to evolve and the lap times tumbled, the Scuderia were also happy with the cars long run simulation.

 

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen ended the day third and fifth quickest respectively but both say there is room for improvement.

 

“I think it was a decent day.” explained Vettel. “In Monaco there’s always traffic, and today we had the red flag, so that it was a bit messy. It’s not that easy to get everything together in a lap here. I am not entirely happy about the second and the last sector. So, I think there’s something we can do better. I believe we got the best out of the tires and on Saturday it will be very close.”

 

Vettel spoke of the tight, twisty challenge that Monaco provides and how the car was handling.

 

“There isn’t more pressure on this track than on the others, but I think it’s more fun.” Vettel continued. “The track is very challenging and you have no room for mistakes but it’s quite enjoyable. You think twice before trying something here.”

 

“However, I have a good feeling with the car. Today I trusted my car and even if I was sliding a little bit, I knew I wouldn’t have touched the barrier. We still need to improve, but generally it’s good fun driving around”. Vettel concluded.

 

On the other side of the garage, Raikkonen spoke of the trickiness of the Monte Carlo circuit and the car’s feeling.

 

“This first day was not too bad, a pretty normal Thursday”, Kimi explained. “The feeling with the car was not too bad, but this track is always quite tricky to start with, and we were trying many different things. The drive around the circuit is a bit more complicated than in other places; it’s easier to end up making a big mistake, while in a normal place you would just end in a run-off area. You need to be more careful and start pushing when you feel that everything is all right.”

 

“For sure there are things to improve, but we were able to do what was planned and managed to stay out of trouble.” Raikkonen continued. “It’s difficult to have a clear picture; in many practice sessions we have seen some cars being very fast on Friday and then in qualifying it’s a different case. Let’s wait and see what happens on Saturday”. Raikkonen said.