Lewis Hamilton laid down an early marker by setting the quickest time in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The world champion led pretty much throughout once he hit the streets of Monte Carlo and would set his best time of 1m12.106s just after the halfway point.
Much of the session was a back and forth between Mercedes and Ferrari initially, but Max Verstappen would put Red Bull into the mix in second just 0.059s behind Hamilton.
The Dutchman overcoming some early niggles and a trip down the escape road at Mirabeau before setting his strong lap time.
Valtteri Bottas was also within a tenth in third, but it was the final sector where the Finn was struggling, particularly the final corner Anthony Noghes with a few close calls with the barrier.
Ferrari unsurprisingly was a little off the pace as Charles Leclerc sat 0.3s behind in fourth, albeit a pretty sizeable 0.35s ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Pierre Gasly found himself a second off the pace of Verstappen in sixth in the second Red Bull.
Renault emerged as the early midfield leaders with Nico Hulkenberg in seventh, a tenth clear of Kevin Magnussen.
The Haas driver and teammate Romain Grosjean found themselves black-flagged early on, as the team lost all radio and telemetry contact with the cars.
Kimi Raikkonen was ninth for Alfa Romeo as Grosjean completed the top 10 with his final flying lap of the session.
Last year’s Monaco winner Daniel Ricciardo was pushed down to P11 with Antonio Giovinazzi a decent 12th.
Toro Rosso typically go well on Monaco’s streets and they have a platform from which to progress with Daniil Kvyat 13th and Alex Albon 14th.
McLaren had a tricky session with Lando Norris only 15th, while Carlos Sainz failed to set a time as a reported battery issue kept him in the garage until the final moments.
Racing Point also found themselves near the bottom of the timesheets, with Lance Stroll complaining about a lack of grip from his tyres.
Incidents were fairly limited to trips down the escape roads at Sainte Devote and Mirabeau, although Robert Kubica was fortunate to escape damage after spinning on the exit of Casino Square.
As drivers start to push the limits a little further, however, the risk of a small mistake having big consequences rises.
Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below:
