Vettel tops early practice at Monaco
Sebastian Vettel was again fastest right out of the box and posted the fastest time of the first free practice for the Monaco GP. Fernando Alonso found his Ferrari working better today and is second fastest, ahead of Nico Rosberg and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
Amidst fastest times coming from Rosberg, then Alonso and then Vettel, others struggled on track.
Vitantonio Liuzzi was the first to crash, losing control of his car out of the tunnel. He crashed into the barriers on the inside of the chicane, causing damage to the front of his Force India VJM04.
Rookie Jérôme D'Ambrosio also had some difficulties. After missing a corner, he had to be pulled back by the marshalls in order to rejoin track action. He nonetheless ended up being quicker than his teammate Timo Glock.
In the closing stages, right when Nico Rosberg improved his pace, Michael Schumacher missed Ste. Devote, locked both front wheels and ended up in the tyre barriers.
Results
| Pos. | .Car | Driver | Car | Best | lapGap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’16.619 | - | 25 |
| 2 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’16.732 | 0.113 | 24 |
| 3 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes Gp | 1’17.139 | 0.520 | 20 |
| 4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’17.316 | 0.697 | 24 |
| 5 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’17.350 | 0.731 | 23 |
| 6 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’17.534 | 0.915 | 24 |
| 7 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1’18.527 | 1.908 | 30 |
| 8 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’18.578 | 1.959 | 24 |
| 9 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’18.733 | 2.114 | 16 |
| 10 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes Gp | 1’18.805 | 2.186 | 14 |
| 11 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1’18.928 | 2.309 | 19 |
| 12 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’19.234 | 2.615 | 24 |
| 13 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’19.395 | 2.776 | 24 |
| 14 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’19.463 | 2.844 | 25 |
| 15 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’19.768 | 3.149 | 25 |
| 16 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’19.792 | 3.173 | 26 |
| 17 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1’20.083 | 3.464 | 23 |
| 18 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1’21.116 | 4.497 | 27 |
| 19 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’21.548 | 4.929 | 32 |
| 20 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’21.758 | 5.139 | 31 |
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’21.815 | 5.196 | 17 |
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Hrt-Cosworth | 1’22.840 | 6.221 | 3 |
| 23 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | Hrt-Cosworth | 1’23.885 | 7.266 | 29 |
| 24 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | - | - | 3 |
