This Sunday sees the showpiece event of the Formula 1 calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix on the glamorous streets of Monte Carlo.
The action got underway today with the opening two practice sessions. It was the McLaren-Mercedes team who made all the headlines, but not all for the right reasons. Fernando Alonso, looking to bounce back from two disappointing results recently, was on fine form in taking P1 in both sessions. His young teammate took second and third on the time sheets, but that didn't tell the full story for Hamilton. Everyone has been waiting to see if and when Hamilton makes his first serious mistake, and it finally came in the second practice session. He lost control under braking into Saint-Devote and skidded into the barriers, ripping the front left suspension off the car. It remains to be seen how much rebuilding the front suspension will hinder Hamilton's progress this weekend, but it's a far from ideal build up to Saturday's all important qualifying session.
Kimi Raikkonen, who has been overshadowed by his teammate in recent weeks, was the quicker of the two Ferraris today. Raikkonen has excelled on this circuit in the past, and he needs a good result here to get his championship campaign back on track. Elsewhere Renault appear to have closed the gap to the BMW team a little on the evidence of today's times. Whether that will prove to be the case in race terms remains to be seen. Elsewhere there were no real suprises in terms of relative pace between the teams.
Practice 1
01 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:16.973
02 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:17.601
03 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:17.616
04 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:17.758
05 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.918
06 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:17.956
07 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:18.074
08 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:18.189
09 Robert Kubica BMW 1:18.675
10 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:18.676
11 Alexander Wurz Williams 1:18.869
12 Scott Speed STR 1:18.967
13 David Coulthard Red Bull 1:19.095
14 Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1:19.203
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR 1:19.285
16 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:19.321
17 Jenson Button Honda 1:19.332
18 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1:19.337
19 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:19.496
20 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:19.799
21 Adrian Sutil Spyker 1:21.634
22 Christijan Albers Spyker 1:23.235
Practice 2
01 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:15.940
02 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.215
03 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:16.296
04 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:16.354
05 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:16.753
06 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.784
07 Robert Kubica BMW 1:16.848
08 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:16.852
09 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:17.292
10 David Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.414
11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:17.449
12 Jenson Button Honda 1:17.457
13 Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1:17.459
14 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:17.486
15 Alex Wurz Williams 1:17.516
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR 1:17.898
17 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:18.086
18 Scott Speed STR 1:18.233
19 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1:18.328
20 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:18.662
21 Christijan Albers Spyker 1:18.820
22 Adrian Sutil Spyker 1:19.358