Formula One news
Alonso heads final Monaco practice
23 May 2009 / Results / PhotosFernando Alonso has finished fastest in Saturday morning practice in Monte-Carlo. The Spaniard's Renault set his best effort with Super Soft tyres onboard towards the end of the session, edging Jenson Button by just six hundredths of a second. Behind, McLaren and Ferrari are looking threatening with all four cars in the top seven places.
 |
| McLaren and Ferrari could challenge the Brawn cars this weekend |
With the one hour session starting at 12 noon and more bright conditions in the principality, temperatures reached highs of 24°C (75°F) with slightly overcast conditions in comparison to Thursday. Nico Rosberg's leading pace of the second practice session was beaten by the top two men in this as Alonso lowered the bar for the weekend to 1.15.164. Championship leader Jenson Button posted the second fastest lap for Brawn GP, just 0.069 seconds down on the former double World Champion's showing.
McLaren and Ferrari have made a clear improvement ahead of this weekend, with Heikki Kovalainen leading the charge in third place; the Finn's best time was just half a tenth slower than Button as Massa led the Ferrari team with a top five position. Kimi Räikkönen was next with Hamilton, at the top of the timesheets for some time during the session, eventually dropping to seventh. Spoiling the symmetry was Rubens Barrichello who, for the first time this weekend, was beaten by his team-mate and ended up fourth.
 |
| Adrian Sutil, somewhat a star on the streets of Monaco, wound up 12th fastest |
The Red Bull and Toyota teams appear to be struggling in Monte-Carlo thus far as Sebastian Vettel wound up over half a second slower than the leading pace and in eighth place. As Thursday's fastest man Rosberg completed his session in ninth, Webber's Red Bull rounded out the top ten. Toyota, however, never threatened the top places as Glock and Trulli wound up in 17th and 20th positions respectively. The former did complete the most laps of the afternoon with 29, though, equalling the sums of Button and 14th placed Fisichella.
Both Toro Rosso and Force India cars finished in the top 16 and can therefore set their sights on Q2 later this afternoon, although the BMWs have been struggling all weekend so far; Kubica and Heidfeld finished practice in 18th and 19th positions, over one of a half seconds off Alonso's top time.
Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix promises to be the most closely contested of 2009 so far and can be followed in GPUpdate.net's live report at 1pm local Monegasque time (GMT +1).
more news
- 28 Nov.
- 27 Nov.
- 26 Nov.
- 25 Nov.
- 24 Nov.
- 23 Nov.
Homepage
Jerez