Matt Bolton: Surely the question should be is the other teams failure to compete with Mercedes ruining f1?

Eric JF Kleijssen: If Formula One stays true to it's origins than it should be with the least regulations on technical development and the opportunity for others to react

Niyaz Erbil: When Vettel was at Red Bull and Hamilton at McLaren in 2012, there was a nice competition and rivalry (even among teammates Webber and Button), but after 2015 and introducing DRS, I see less overtaking and no rivalry.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

Renault, team boss Cyril Abiteboul admitted on Thursday, have had “an unfortunate start to the season, not at the level we can accept”. From finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship last year, they currently have on average the eighth quickest car, and were struggling on Thursday in Monaco. In addition to the widely known problem with the MGU-K in the hybrid system, Abiteboul revealed that part of their shortfall has been down to a problem with the engine’s conrods - the part that connects the piston to the crankshaft. This, he said, was what caused Nico Hulkenberg’s retirement in Bahrain. This meant they had to run the engine at reduced power - and was what was fixed for the new engines that were introduced at the last race in Spain.

After proving them there, Monaco is the first race since Bahrain that Renault have been able to run the engines at maximum power. On this front, Abiteboul says, Renault have improved by 40kW since last year - and he says they are now at “the same level as Ferrari and Mercedes in the race, and behind Ferrari in qualifying”. Another 10kW is predicated for later in the season.

On the chassis front, Abiteboul said a big aerodynamic upgrade is scheduled for the French Grand Prix in three races’ time.

Here we go. An hour of third practice. One last chance to impress before qualifying later on.

Stuart Longley: This is the longest period of dominance for one team. Ferrari from 2000-2004 (challenged in 03) and Red Bull from 2011-2013 didn't have as long on top as Mercedes have. They got the jump on everyone at the start of the hybrid era and haven't released it. So yes it has been bad for F1

Joanna: No, the other teams lack of producing a good car is ruining it

Ben J Atherton: No, Mercedes have set the standard, its up to the others to catch up

Maarten Kros: Mercedes got the V6 they wanted and now the tyres that they wanted. Ferrari and Red Bull are just getting outplayed on the track and in the politics. Any other team would push for the same advantages if they could.

Our live radio commentary is only available online today so press the play button at the top of this page to listen to our team of Alex Jacques, Jolyon Palmer and Jennie Gow.

Niki Lauda, who was one of the best-known figures in motor racing, has died at the age of 70 and here are some facts about him.

Here are six of the defining moments from Niki Lauda's career, courtesy of the F1 Twitter account.

In case you missed this from Lewis Hamilton, who worked closely with Niki Lauda at Mercedes, this was his emotional tribute earlier this week...

Obviously this is the first race weekend since the sad news that three-time world champion Niki Lauda died on Monday. There are numerous tributes all over the place, and these tributes are on the cars of McLaren, Red Bull and Renault...

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

Ferrari looked in dire straits on Thursday, Sebastian Vettel more than 0.7secs slower than the Mercedes. Monaco is a track that accentuates the Ferrari’s biggest weakness - its slow-corner performance. Ferrari technical director Mattia Binotto says the team’s fundamental problem is that “we are lacking is grip from the tyres because we are not able to make them work properly. And that is interaction is between aero and mechanical, and overall it is a balance.” He spent some time in a news conference on Thursday going through the car’s characteristics and he admitted it “is somehow quite efficient, as you can see on the straights, but it doesn't mean we have the car that has the highest downforce in the pit lane”.

Much attention has focused in the disparity in front-wing concept between the Mercedes and the Ferrari - Mercedes’ is aimed at exploiting maximum possible downforce, Ferrari’s more at consistency. But clearly one has the balance more right than the other. But Binotto said he did not expect this to change: “Certainly it is a different concept to Mercedes, but it doesn't mean that we have achieved the maximum of its concept today. We are not foreseeing to change the wing concept.”

As for the obvious need to develop the car, Binotto said: “Improving the full car concept it may take some time to find a new aero concept, it may take a few weeks but in the meantime we need to optimise the package we have and there is still time to do so. If you look at the five races so far, there have been some where we have been stronger so I think there are races where we can still be strong with the current package. We will fight day by day, race by race and let’s see.”

tweetSPORT: No because #F1, external is not some comprehensive school sports day it is not important that everyone gets to win. The other teams need to do a better job.

Mike G: No, every team has a period of ascendancy, it comes and it goes. Go back a few years and it was Red Bull, a little further and it was Ferrari, etc etc.

Christopher Henson: Mercedes, Ferrari, Red bull, Williams, McLaren. Makes no difference there’s always been 1 team better then others and dominated for seasons.

Image source, Getty Images

On Thursday we had football star Cristiano Ronaldo in Monaco, today Mexican boxing superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is the first sports star to be spotted. There will be others.

Five races in and it has been five races of Mercedes joy, with Lewis Hamilton holding a seven-point lead in the championship.

Image source, .

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monaco

Chances of a disruption to Mercedes’ serene progress at the head of Formula 1 this weekend? Not high, on the basis of Thursday. Ferrari are out of it. Mercedes were in a league of their own on track, and while Max Verstappen split Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the first session before problems in the second, the Dutchman said he “didn’t think we can fight them for pole”.

So, it looks odds-on for a Mercedes front row. From there, it’s hard to see how they could be beaten for victory. The only realistic chance is if Verstappen can get between the two Mercedes on the first lap, and stick with the lead one to the stops.

One of the talking points from that podcast asks whether Mercedes' dominance of this season (five one-two finishes out of five races) is a good thing for Formula 1?

So, let's keep that going with our debate. Is it making the sport too predictable or is it pushing the other teams to improve?

Tweet us your views by using the hashtag #bbcf1

We get going at 11:00 BST so there's time for a quick listen to the latest podcast from 5 Live, so here you are.

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A quick recap on Thursday's afternoon....

Lewis Hamilton pipped Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes dominated second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix. The world champion was just 0.081 seconds ahead of the Finn.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, second behind Hamilton in first practice, missed much of the second as a result of a water leak and ended up sixth.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third fastest - but a massive 0.763secs off the pace. Team-mate Charles Leclerc was 10th, struggling with car set-up.

Vettel also had a near-miss at Turn One, when he locked a wheel on entry and just managed to get the car stopped before hitting the barriers. There was even worse news for Ferrari on the race-simulation runs later in the session, when Vettel was on average more than a second slower than the Mercedes.

Morning! We've all enjoyed a rare Friday off and we're back for third practice and then qualifying later on.

As always, we'll have live radio commentary on this page too.

Thursday was a perfect day for Lewis Hamilton. Fastest in session one and fastest in session two, so will he be fastest in third practice and then in pole position later on?

Today's the day we will find out.

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