Alonso shines in first practice session

Fernando Alonso picked up where he left off two weeks ago in Spain by circulating the Monte Carlo streets at a blistering pace to top first practice on a lap of 1:16.712. The Spaniard’s excellent time was backed up by Giancarlo Fisichella who took his Renault F1 car to third, sandwiching the Honda of Anthony Davidson.

Under glorious skies the practice session got under way, and almost immediately there was a buzz of activity on track. Surprisingly, given how slippery the track was this morning, every driver ventured out, with only Nick Heidfeld failing to set a laptime.

Behind the top three, Michael Schumacher took fourth place, showing off some very shiny new overalls in the process. The German was followed by Juan Pablo Montoya’s McLaren. The Colombian’s pace will be a relief to the British squad who are not having the start to the season they would wish for… especially as Montoya’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 27th position, 49 seconds off the pace. The Finn ground to a halt on just his third lap, with smoke pouring from his car.

Behind Montoya, Robert Kubica was sixth for BMW, with Alex Wurz seventh, Jenson Button eighth, Robert Doornbos ninth and Rubens Barrichello tenth.

With the teams spread out the length of the field, there seems just one dominant force at the moment. It may only be the first session, but the Renault F1 team is already firing on all cylinders.

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