The Manor Marussia F1 Team got their Monaco Grand Prix weekend underway today with the first of the free practice sessions for Sunday's 78 lap race at the Circuit de Monaco. Roberto Merhi ended the day in 18th position, ahead of his team-mate Will Stevens in 19th, despite an abbreviated afternoon session following an off at the tunnel exit.

Will Stevens: "Not a bad start to our weekend here in Monaco. The day began reasonably well this morning but this afternoon's rain hampered everybody's progress. There is plenty of room for improvement with the car set-up and then I think the day has reminded everyone that a lot can happen here, which in turn creates opportunities, so we'll be ready to take advantage of whatever surprises spring our way."

Roberto Merhi: "I had a really good start to the day this morning and was quite happy with the car. I love racing here and I think the combination showed in possibly my best session of the season so far. Early in this afternoon's session I lost the car under braking out of the tunnel, where it was quite slippery. It's a shame but as things turned out, the rain meant that we would not have been able to achieve any meaningful running, so I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off on Saturday."

John Booth, Team Principal: "This was always destined to be a difficult day due to the poor weather forecast. This morning we were making good progress, with both drivers running well. This afternoon, track time was significantly compromised due to the rain and our progress was further hampered when Roberto lost control under braking on the exit of the tunnel, causing quite a bit of damage to the front of the car. Fortunately we have an extra day tomorrow to prepare for FP3 and qualifying."

Check out our Thursday gallery, here.