Lewis Hamilton thinks the field is wide open at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, with Lotus in particular looking like strong contenders after Friday practice.

14733 - It's close at the top - Hamilton

It was hard to get a clear reading of the true order during practice as rain limited running in the second session and most drivers failed to set a representative time on the super-soft tyres. However, Hamilton thinks the usual contenders all look quick and a clean lap on Saturday will be the key to getting pole position.

"I think today you can get a bit of an understanding of just how quick people are," he said. "The Lotus is massively quick. I'm not really sure what Red Bull are up to but I have no doubts they will be quick and Ferrari are going to be quick. The same teams are quick this weekend and I think everyone has got a good chance to fight at the front end and it's just about getting out there at the right time and making sure you get the temperature into the tyres and the brakes and you nail it."

He said it had been tough to get a proper understanding of the car and tyres due to the wet afternoon session, but he still enjoyed his time on track on Friday.

"The weather started off quite nice in the morning and we made some setup changes, but it's been quite difficult day in terms of trying to dial in the car because of the conditions changing and also a lot of traffic out there. But nonetheless it was still mega fun out there, it's incredible driving this track."

Hamilton reckons the teams could have a few surprises from the tyres over longer runs after failing to get their usual Friday work done in the first two practice sessions.

"What does hinder it is less running, and the less you do the harder it is to understand the tyres. Today none of us got to do a long run. People might do it in P3, but I doubt it. So everyone will be going into the race blind in terms of how the tyres are going to behave so it will be a big surprise for everyone I think."