F1 2016: Monaco Grand Prix free practice round-up

The first appearance of Pirelli's new ultra-soft compound tyres saw the lap times tumble in the first two free practice sessions for the sixth round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the F1 Monaco Grand Prix at Monte Carlo around the 3.337km Circuit de Monaco.

Lewis Hamilton's lap of 1'15.537" in his Mercedes and Red Bull-Tag Heuer's Daniel Ricciardo's time of 1:14.607 in the first and second sessions, respectively, were both around 2.5 seconds faster than the best time set in the same sessions at last year's event. The slowest time set in second free practice by Manor-Mercedes' Pascal Wehrlein - 1:18.814 - would have been good enough to be the eighth best time in the same session last year (22 cars made up the grid both this year and in 2015).

The spike in lap times on account of the new compounds that offer immense grip but barely anything by way of longevity, made people question the wisdom of the radical technical changes due for the 2017 seasons in which F1 cars will not only be made wider (close to the track width of the 1997 machines) but with wider, lower wings to generate more downforce. The purpose of the regulations is to make the cars appear more aggressive but also to increase lap times. The latter, however, seems to already be well within reach as has been proven by qualifying times in the championship rounds prior to Monaco.

Teams divided the total allocation of three hours of running between race simulations and finding one lap speed in time for Saturday's qualifying session, with Friday being a rest day as is the tradition at the Monaco GP.

With Ricciardo running an upgraded Renault power unit - don't be fooled by the Tag Heuer badge - Red Bull Racing are looking good to genuinely trouble Mercedes rather than just profit from their misfortune as they did in the previous round in Spain!

The obvious one-lap speed appears to be complimented by race pace although it is usually never a good idea to write off Mercedes who are famous for not running their power unit - the class of the F1 grid so far - at full blast until qualifying and whenever it is needed in the race.

Ferrari's form is a mystery on account of their practice session programs not running entirely smoothly. However, smoother than those of Williams-Mercedes' Felipe Massa and Haas-Ferrari's Romain Grosjean, both of whom went off into the barriers in the first and second session, respectively.

BIANCHI FAMILY SEEKS JUSTICE
Away from the track, news came in of the family of the deceased Jules Bianchi starting legal proceedings against the Formula One Group and the FIA over the fatal crash of the young Frenchman at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

The family is adamant that the death was avoidable and have stated that they wish to start the proceedings in order to find out the truth about what led to the incident where Bianchi's Marussia F1 car went off the circuit in the rain and hit a stationary recovery crane that had stopped in a run-off area to attend to another car that had gone off the circuit.

MCLAREN TURNS 50
This weekend's Monaco GP will mark the 50th year of the McLaren F1 team's participation in the world championship as the sport's second most successful outfit made its grand prix racing debut in the 1966 edition of the famous street race.

Honda, the team's engine partner, has brought an upgraded power unit and in the hands of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, it has helped the team hover around the top ten in the two practice sessions. The team has shown some signs of improvement with the MP4-31 progressing further in qualifying and so far managing four points finishes in the season. It's best showing this year has been the Russian GP where Alonso and Button finished 6th and 10th, respectively.