Ferrari has burning ambition to win 1st Monaco GP since 2001

Lewis Hamilton admitted that Mercedes has a lot of work to do after the team struggled badly in afternoon practice in Monaco on Thursday. Felipe Massa was only 13th fastest while Lance Stroll’s running was cut short by 30 minutes after losing the rear of his vehicle into Casino Square resulting in a hefty impact into the barriers.

Sebastian Vettel feels it is “about time” Ferrari won the Monaco Grand Prix, having not registered a Formula One victory at the famous street circuit in 16 years.

Approaching half distance in the session, it was Daniel Ricciardo fastest with a 1:13.280 on the UltraSoft tyre, ahead of Daniil Kvyat by 0.051 seconds.

The triple world champion, who can equal the 65 career pole positions of boyhood idol Ayrton Senna in Saturday’s qualifying, topped the timesheets with a best lap of one minute 13.425 seconds on ultrasoft tyres.

“We have good downforce here, the rear of the vehicle feels like it is working the best it has so far this year”, Ricciardo said.

“Practice two was hard and we struggled with the pace over one lap”, said Bottas.

“This afternoon, for whatever reason, the tyres weren’t working”.

“We’re looking forward to a real fight on Saturday”.

Hamilton could only take two seconds off the Ricciardo but then the Australian was called into the pit lane by Red Bull-but the team didn’t have the tires ready and Hamilton passed him as Ricciardo exited the pits.

Championship leader Vettel was 0.487 seconds quicker than Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, with Hamilton more than a second off the pace.

It was the first time Button has driven a 2017 spec vehicle and he admitted the new machines will take some getting used to. “They probably had a problem today, but I am sure they will be back to full force on Saturday”. We committed to the set-up as it takes longer than a session to change and we chose to push through and collect some data. “For Lewis it will be important to see whether we are competitive or not, but at the moment there is such a solid basis that I can imagine it going on forever”.

Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion who called it a day in 2016, will be filling in for Spaniard Fernando Alonso at McLaren while the double champion takes on the Indianapolis 500 on the same weekend.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland steers his auto at the third practice during the Formula One Grand Prix at the Monaco racetrack in Monaco, Saturday, May 27, 2017.

He also found that some things never change, complaining over the radio about the driving of others. The overriding image from the second session, however, was the Williams of Lance Stroll being hauled away by crane after he crashed into the barriers at Casino Square.

Stroll was not injured in the crash, but sustained significant damage to the front of his Williams, and the session was temporarily red-flagged as marshals removed his vehicle and the litter of debris.