Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet at the end of Thursday's first free practice session, edging out Sebastain Vettel by just 0.196s.
The Mercedes drivers' fastest lap was quicker than last year's pole while the top five drivers were covered by just under half a second.
Vettel's Ferrari suffered a slight mishap early on when he tapped the barriers while P3's Max Verstappen endured a puncture.
Other than that it was an incident-free session - a rare occurrence at Monaco - save for Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson who were hit by technical gremlins which prevented any meaningful running.
Daniel Ricciardo clocked in with 45 laps under his belt and the fifth fastest time, right behind Valtteri Bottas' Mercedes.
Meanwhile, Jenson Button's return to the fray yielded P14, with the McLaren driver just fractionally down on team mate Stoffel Vandoorne.
The 2009 victor's time was just 1.529s slower than Lewis Hamitlon's fastest lap, an indication of the level of competition of the field in the Principality.
Free practice 1 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:13.425s | 40 | |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:13.621s | + 0.196s | 34 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:13.771s | + 0.346s | 32 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:13.791s | + 0.366s | 40 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:13.854s | + 0.429s | 45 |
| 6 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:14.111s | + 0.686s | 42 |
| 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:14.164s | + 0.739s | 37 |
| 8 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:14.201s | + 0.776s | 32 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:14.333s | + 0.908s | 39 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:14.425s | + 1.000s | 39 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:14.617s | + 1.192s | 37 |
| 12 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:14.813s | + 1.388s | 38 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:14.870s | + 1.445s | 34 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:14.954s | + 1.529s | 35 |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:15.321s | + 1.896s | 33 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:15.595s | + 2.170s | 44 |
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:15.949s | + 2.524s | 42 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1:16.258s | + 2.833s | 33 |
| 19 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 3 | ||
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 3 |
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