Two-time champion Fernando Alonso showed the way ahead to a relatively inexperienced field on Thursday when he set the pace in the opening free practice session for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The Spanish Ferrari driver, who has won twice before here on the spectacular Mediterranean street circuit, set a best time of 1min 15.927sec with about 20 of the 90 minutes to go in a session run in dry conditions.
Alonso ended up just ahead of German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Pole Robert Kubica of Renault.
The top three were separated by just 0.089 seconds.
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Australian Mark Webber was fourth, maintaining the form and pace of his win in Spain last Sunday, despite some frustrations with the heavy traffic on the narrow barrier-lined streets around the harbour. Brazilian Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari ahead of seven-time champion German Michael Schumacher for Mercedes and the two McLarens of Britons Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
For Force India, Germany’s Adrian Sutil was ninth while Vitantonio Liuzzi of Italy finished 13th. — AFP