Monaco F1 Grand Prix 2019 Qualifying: Results, Times from Thursday's Practice

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in each of the first two practice sessions at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday as he recorded a fastest lap of one minute, 11.118 seconds.  

Mercedes clinched an encouraging one-two in the latter session as team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished a close second and just 0.081 seconds behind his team-mate.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel turned in a best lap of one minute, 11.881 seconds and ended third. Meanwhile, Red Bull's Pierre Gasly and Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon will have been content with fourth and fifth:

On the headline weekend of the Formula One season, there were numerous tributes to Niki Lauda, who died on Monday aged 70:

The three-time world champion is considered one of the greatest drivers of all time and won the Monaco Grand Prix twice during his career.

Hamilton and Vettel also have two Monaco victories apiece, and either one could become the most successful active driver on the French Riviera with a win on Sunday.

It's become a familiar storyline in recent seasons, but Mercedes dominated to suggest they're gathering a head of steam leading up to Sunday:

Red Bull's Max Verstappen failed to stay competitive after a water leak restricted him to only 16 laps and a sixth-place finish.

Renault duo Daniel Ricciardo and Niko Hulkenberg never quite got up to speed in second practice and ended 17th and 16th, respectively. 

Those stars failed to hit expectations, but the couldn't be said for the likes of Gasly and Albon. The former in particular held a torch for Red Bull during Verstappen's car concerns, but Autosport predicted there's more to come from the manufacturer:

Vettel's team-mate, Charles Leclerc, struggled with braking issues and was also far off the pace, 1.232 seconds to be exact. He took 10th, just ahead of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in 12th and 13th place, respectively.

Drivers return to the track for third practice and qualifying on Saturday, where Mercedes will seek to tighten their grip on proceedings.

First Practice Recap

Earlier in the day, Hamilton edged Verstappen into second by 0.059 seconds, while Bottas finished third in a time of one minute, 12.178 seconds.

These were the standings following the first practice session:

Mercedes have been dominant so far in 2019, registering one-twos in each of the first five races of the season.

And it was more of the same in the first half of Thursday's opening session as Hamilton and Bottas traded places at the top:

However, with 20 minutes of the session remaining, and after going off at the Mirabeau corner, Verstappen found some pace to split the Mercedes as he moved into second.

There are few tracks where preparation is more important than Monaco, and where qualifying is so crucial given the difficulty of overtaking.

Mercedes and Red Bull will be satisfied with their work on Thursday morning, while Ferrari will be looking to improve in the afternoon after Charles Leclerc and Vettel finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

McLaren will be less happy after Carlos Sainz was unable to even set a time:

Meanwhile, a rare black flag—which means instant disqualification during a race—was issued to Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean:

They were able to get back out after the issue was resolved but were left ruing the missed track time, which is so crucial at Monaco.