How impressive was Verstappen?

Rain curtailed any hope of seeing this year's field use Pirelli's new super-soft tyre and go for a fast laptime around the streets of the Principality, so the most interesting aspect of the opening free practice sessions for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix was the performance of a certain 17-year-old driver who many outsiders argue is too young to even be in Formula 1.

If any more proof were needed that Max Verstappen belongs at this level he produced some more of it in practice one in Monaco.

The Dutchman was the only driver in the field who had no prior experience of this unique circuit (in any category), yet he lapped his Toro Rosso second fastest in his first outing here, slower only than the Mercedes of reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Of course achieving such a feat - even if it was only in free practice - generated a lot of attention, and will generate a lot of positive headlines, but how impressive was Verstappen's performance really?

Clearly Toro Rosso had a strategy to send its drivers out early and complete as many laps as possible. Hamilton even spoke ahead of the event (when he wasn't being asked about his new three-year deal with Mercedes) about the need to build up a rhythm around this track and generate the confidence to attack the circuit and go quicker.

Verstappen's growing confidence was visible through the chicane © XPB

Ultimately it's your qualifying performance around here (more than anywhere else) that will likely define how well you end up doing on Sunday, so you cannot afford to get left behind in vital track time. Verstappen and team-mate Carlos Sainz completed 82 laps between them in first practice; only the Mercedes drivers managed more.

After a round of installation laps on intermediate tyres (on a damp circuit), Hamilton was the first to venture out on slicks and from my vantage point on the outside of the Nouvelle Chicane, he was clearly pushing hard immediately - leaning heavily on the rear end of his W06 and trying (not always successfully) to dance it through this tight sequence of turns.

The Toro Rossos were not far behind on-track, and Verstappen actually looked a lot more cautious than both Hamilton and Sainz initially, the telltale being a requirement of a squirt of throttle between the left and right-handers while he worked out how much speed he could carry through this section of track. But it only took a handful of laps before Verstappen began to look more comfortable - at least matching his team-mate, who has raced here before in Formula Renault 3.5.

After half-a-dozen laps Verstappen's approach changed and he began carrying much more speed through the first part of the chicane, building up quickly but gradually, and being careful not to overdrive.

Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat and Sainz were running close together, a short distance behind Verstappen, and as these first dry runs came to end they were not catching him. At this stage he was slightly slower than Sainz overall (to the tune of 0.243s), but marginally more consistent.

The track obviously rubbered in as the session wore on and the laptimes tumbled towards the end as a result, though drivers estimated it was taking as many as 10 consecutive laps to work the soft tyre up to a decent temperature.

After Verstappen leapt to second in the times on his final flying lap of the session, some onlookers suggested he'd been helped to look good by a light fuel load. That is certainly partly true, but it does not explain everything.

Examining the runs of all the eventual top-10 drivers the two Ferraris, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and Felipe Massa's Williams set their fastest times midway through the session, so arguably could/should have gone quicker later on.

Of those, it's reasonable to expect that Verstappen would not ordinarily have been quicker than Rosberg or the Ferraris, which would put him fifth rather than second. The Williams is difficult to read because the FW37 is not expected to go well at Monaco anyway and the team usually doesn't show much performance on the first day of running at a grand prix.

Verstappen's rivals were also impressed © XPB

Nevertheless Verstappen's final result in FP1 surprised many, (including him), and although it's always dangerous to read too much into practice form, certainly his accomplished performance attracted praise in the paddock.

Lotus's Romain Grosjean said: "I didn't see him finish P2. That's quite impressive, to be fair.

"It's a tricky track and when you get the confidence, you can dance around. If you don't, you have more trouble with your pants!

"When he jumped in for Fridays last year he was pushing hard and going to the limit, so that's impressive."

McLaren reserve driver Kevin Magnussen also reckoned Verstappen had done a "good job", but the Dane suggested learning this circuit in a Formula 1 car might actually have been easier on the Dutchman, because the technology at his disposal is so much more refined than any available in the junior formulae.

"I was here two times in World Series [FR3.5] and that was much more difficult," Magnussen told AUTOSPORT. "In World Series you really have to build up, because the car is heavy and if you make a mistake it's much easier to hit the wall.

"In Formula 1 you can catch it better, because the car is more balanced and better and easier to drive - it takes the kerbs better. I found it was easier in Formula 1, you could just push straightaway.

"Simulators nowadays are very good, so that will have helped [him too]."

This last point is very apt, for both Toro Rosso drivers praised the quality of the simulator programme that meant they each completed more than 200 laps of virtual driving before coming to Monaco.

Sainz, who ended up 0.335s slower than his team-mate at the end of the first session, reckoned that discipline has helped them both do well in the early stages of GP weekends so far this year.

Verstappen's previous street circuit experience came from Pau and Macau © XPB

"We have shown, Max and myself, that it's a very decent tool," explained Sainz, who is also receiving a lot of deserved praise for the way he is driving this year - and whose own performances are also helping push his team-mate forward.

"When we get to FP1 and two rookies, against all these guys that have been driving for 10 years, are in the top five, it shows that the team is preparing us well and we are doing a good job."

Verstappen clearly feels at home on street circuits, as his performances in Formula 3 last season (narrowly achieving the second fastest time in qualifying at Pau, and fastest lap at the Macau Grand Prix) highlight.

His driving style is highly dynamic and leans heavily on the rear end of the car, which helps make him rapid through the slow corners that predominate circuits like Monaco. But perhaps the most impressive element of Verstappen's performance was his consistency. Certainly it was the lack of errors in his driving that impressed STR team boss Franz Tost.

"We all know that Max is a very, very high-skilled driver, [but] what I was impressed [by] was how he achieved this really, really good time in FP1," Tost said.

"From run to run he improved his laptime without making any mistake - no locking, nothing. His car control and his feedback during the run was really, really extraordinary."

You can argue the toss over fuel loads, track conditions, tyre warm-up and traffic all day long, but you can't argue with what Pirelli's Paul Hembery described as an "obviously exceptional" performance on Verstappen's first visit to Monte Carlo.

It certainly looked that way trackside, and on a day where the weather interrupted running before anything truly meaningful could be learned for the rest of the weekend, it was certainly worth all the high praise afterwards.