Mercedes AMG Petronas once again looked extremely fast in free practice as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished first and second in first practice.
Hamilton completed 32 laps in a dry first practice to finish just 0.032s ahead of his team-mate Rosberg who completed 31 laps. A rain shower prior to second practice meant that running was limited, meaning the Mercedes duo only completed 23 laps between them.
Hamilton was still able to finish second though, just seven-tenths short of his P1 effort. Rosberg used P2 to focus on practice starts and pit stops.
Confidence is high at Mercedes at the moment, and no one is more confident than the current Championship leader Hamilton. He says he can’t wait to get stuck into qualifying on Saturday. “The car is still a work in progress but it felt really good out there today,” he said. “I’m feeling pretty set for Saturday, there is still some work to do but we have tomorrow to look into that and finish all our preparations for the weekend.”
The last time Hamilton won in Monaco was back in 2008 with Mclaren. He is keen to repeat that result this year, and he feels he has the car to do it.
“I just love racing here; this track is one of the coolest ever. It’s such a classic race, and i’ve been trying to win here again since 2008, so i’m hoping this is the year as we have such a great car.”
Rosberg may have lost his Championship lead in Barcelona, but he remains determined to catch his team-mate and pull further away from their main rivals. “That was a very good day,” said Rosberg. “It seems that we are looking very quick here again, although our main competitors seems to be a little closer to us than in Barcelona.”
“I still need to find my perfect set-up so there is still some work for us to do tomorrow to get ready for the weekend. The conditions weren’t great this afternoon so I didn’t take any risks as there was nothing to learn on the wet parts of the track. Now i’m looking forward to Saturday.”
Mercedes Executive Director Toto Wolff has high hopes after practice, and believes his two drivers can deliver another great result. “We have two Monaco specialists with Nico and Lewis, so we know that if we do our job as a team, they will deliver out on track.”
“I am sure that we will have a very tough challenge from our rivals this weekend and, like always in Monte-Carlo, there will be no margin for error in any area.”
