Mercedes completely surprised by Ferrari: 'We are used to that from Verstappen'

Mercedes did not have a perfect Thursday in Monaco. During the two practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton didn't get further than a P3 in the second free practice session. Ferrari was a surprise at the top, but Andrew Shovlin is also looking at Max Verstappen.

The Monaco Grand Prix weekend always starts on Thursday, and for Mercedes and Red Bull Racing that is a good thing this time. They were worried when Ferrari were in first and second place after the second free practice. Mercedes finished third and fifth after an even worse first practice session.

''This season we've learnt to expect Max's company in the battle at the front but it was a surprise to us to see both Ferraris looking so strong; you don't need to scrutinise the timesheets for long to see that their pace is genuine - they could be real contenders for the win,'' Shovlin said in Mercedes' press release.

''We've got an extra day to work on things tomorrow which is handy as it feels like we need to improve both our single lap and long-run performance, but Monaco is all about putting together the entire weekend and today was a pretty decent start'', concludes the Mercedes engineer.