Lewis Hamilton off the pace as Daniel Ricciardo leads Red Bull one-two in Monaco practice

As Lewis Hamilton discovered just what Mercedes had in terms of grip and balance in Thursday’s opening practice sessions in Monte Carlo, he learned that he was certainly right in one prediction: the Red Bulls were very fast.

The world champion had expected that after their form in the final sector of the lap in Barcelona a fortnight ago, where the cars from Milton Keynes were quickest through the slow final corners which are very reflective of Monaco.

As Daniel Ricciardo narrowly headed team-mate Max Verstappen, with respective laps of 1m 11.841s and 1m 12.035s, Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton himself were 0.572s and 0.695s adrift, with 1m 12.413s and 1m 12.536s apiece.

Hamilton had said on Wednesday that the two sessions would show how effective Mercedes’ preparation had been for a race in which he suffered badly last year, lacking grip in both qualifying and the race in which he finished a lowly seventh.

“It's been an okay day,” he said. “We didn't suffer any damage, which is a good thing. I said yesterday the Red Bulls were going to be quick, which they were today. As expected, we struggled a little bit more.

“The car felt good in some places, in others it felt bad. So we have got some things to work on, but we're not completely in the dark; we're in a much better place than we were last year. We're closer to Red Bull and Ferrari than I expected, but we're still a few tenths off. So we've got some ground to cover and pick up if we want to be in the fight for the win. We've got to keep working on the set-up and try and see if we can pull out some more potential from the car.”

As everyone discovered, Pirelli’s hypersoft tyre was good for very fast times, but lasted less well than either the ultrasoft or the supersoft.

“The hypersoft felt good, but it doesn't last very long.” Hamilton added. “It looks good for qualifying but could be interesting in the race.” His run on supersofts, however, ended when he decided to pit as the wear rate made it feel as if something had gone wrong on his car.

Ferrari’s improved pace in the second session was a boost for Vettel, since they appear to have overcome their tyre temperature problems from the recent Spanish GP. But the legendary Italian team were at the centre of paddock speculation regarding compliance with the Formula 1 rules governing battery systems and energy recovery system (ERS) deployment.

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Ferrari have been the subject of allegations that they use a twin-battery system which might enable them to deploy more than the regulatory 120 kW from their motor generator unit (MGU-K) which harvests kinetic energy without triggering FIA sensors, thus enabling their power unit to develop more than the 4 MJ of energy which is permitted each lap.

It transpires that the FIA checked Ferrari’s systems in both Baku and Barcelona, and that this weekend the governing body are monitoring Ferrari’s revised software which is designed to prevent more than that 4 MJ being deployed per lap.

Mercedes’ Niki Lauda was a busy man as he was seen visiting other teams to assess their view on what was happening.

His partner at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, said he was confident the FIA had the alleged situation under control.

"Legality topics come up regularly, and some are more controversial," he said, referring to the fact that teams often push their technology and that the FIA regularly review changes to determine whether they remain within the rules. "But it's the daily business of the FIA to check what the teams do, it's the obligation of the teams to comply with the regulations, and this is an ongoing process.

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"I have great confidence that with whatever issues are coming up, either the chassis or the engine, the FIA has been on top of it a lot. This is as far as I understand the process that is taking place as we speak, and we'll see what the outcome is."

Red Bull’s Christian Horner agreed. "I'm sure the FIA have all the competence to be able to measure, administer and look at the cars that are presented for scrutineering during a grand prix weekend, and that they comply with the regulations.

"Of course, it's the team's obligation to ensure that that happens, so I think the FIA are probably the best people to point questions at."

While Horner was fending off the media, his driver Ricciardo was beaming that smile of his and savouring a confidence-boosting day.

“This is a place I always love driving. It helps when you’re fast but regardless it’s just so much fun driving an F1 car around here. Having the hypersoft tyre gives us that little bit more grip and it’s pretty cool to be breaking lap records. I’m glad that was the fastest lap that anyone has ever done as it felt so quick.

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“Some parts of the track are just amazing. Tabac in particular is a lot of fun. Both cars today ran really well in the sessions and Max and I were fighting for the top spot all day. I think come qualifying the others will turn it up and I’m sure it will tighten up as you never know what the other teams are doing, but all we could do today was try and top the times, which is what we have done.”

The Chinese GP winner has no doubt that the times will be quicker still tomorrow, which could mean 1m 10s laps, and though he expects Red Bull to be at a disadvantage as Mercedes and Ferrari turn up their engines in qualifying, he said the team’s aim is to dominate and win.

It’s been a while since Red Bull looked so confident, and only the unwise would write off their chances. Mercedes and Ferrari are certainly considering them to be very tough competition, especially given Thursday's form.