Monaco Grand Prix – Thursday Practice Results

Source: autosport.com | Free Practice 2 – report: lotusf1team.com | twitter |

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Mixed weather conditions and extensive setup work resulted in a steady session for Kimi in Free Practice 2 this afternoon while Romain continued to shine around the Circuit de Monaco.

Forecasts of showers spurred a flurry of activity at the end of the pit lane as Free Practice 2 got underway at the Circuit de Monaco. As the queue to head out on track cleared, both Kimi and Romain charged out of the blocks for their install laps sporting matching sets of scrubbed soft compound Pirelli tyres.

With just 15 minutes of the session run the predicted shower began to fall, with Romain sitting in P2 and Kimi down in P19 having spent the first run assessing his new steering setup.

As the raindrops ebbed away allowing a dry line to emerge, Romain got his first taste of the red marker super soft compound tyres – racking up a good few laps to give the engineers at least some data on the new rubber, which had been thus far un-used this season. The Iceman meanwhile continued his setup work on a second set of scrubbed softs.

With just under 25 minutes left to run and another shower coating the track, both drivers took to the circuit for two final runs on the intermediate tyres – useful experience, as the changeable conditions look set to continue throughout the race weekends if forecasts are correct.

Having attained the necessary knowledge and data, the Finn and the Frenchman brought the E20s in to rest after a productive session – despite the somewhat unpredictable track conditions.

With running for the day complete, Kimi ended the second session in P19 with a fastest time of 1:19.267 from 25 laps, while Romain’s best effort of 1:16.138 from 19 laps saw him lie an impressive P2.

Pos-Driver---------------Team------------------Time---------------Laps
 1. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.746s            14
 2. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m16.138s  + 0.392   17
 3. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m16.602s  + 0.856   19
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m16.661s  + 0.915   21
 5. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m16.820s  + 1.074   18
 6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m17.021s  + 1.275   13
 7. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m17.148s  + 1.402   21
 8. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m17.153s  + 1.407   20
 9. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m17.293s  + 1.547    9
10. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m17.303s  + 1.557   19
11. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m17.375s  + 1.629   17
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m17.395s  + 1.649   19
13. Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m17.655s  + 1.909   18
14. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m17.800s  + 2.054   23
15. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m18.251s  + 2.505   22
16. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m18.440s  + 2.694   23
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.522s  + 2.776   20
18. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.808s  + 3.062   24
19. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m19.267s  + 3.521   23
20. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m19.309s  + 3.563   27
21. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m20.029s  + 4.283   13
22. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m20.240s  + 4.494   19
23. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m20.631s  + 4.885   12
24. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m20.886s  + 5.140   10

Team quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen – 19th: “It’s good to be back in Monaco even if we missed some running today. The steering wasn’t to my liking so the team changed it for me. It’s something you change for Monaco and there’s no way of knowing what it will be like beforehand. The car felt good in the second session, though it was obviously pretty slippery when the track was wet. I would have liked to have had more time in the car, but Monaco’s a track I know pretty well and it hasn’t changed much over the years. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

James Allison, Technical Director: “We’re happy with today’s performance as we came here with a certain amount of trepidation about whether our cars would be competitive. It was a disappointment to have missed the first session whilst we changed the steering setup on Kimi’s car, but he’s an old enough trooper to get himself up to speed on Saturday. The pace shown by Romain in both sessions was certainly encouraging. All the Monaco upgrades seem to be working well and the E20 is pretty happy around what is a very unique track.”

Free Practice 1 – Report

A sole E20 took to the streets of Monaco during the first Free Practice session in Monaco this morning, with Romain charging to P2 while Kimi remained confined to the garage for extensive steering adjustments to his car.

Clear blue skies and mild temperatures greeted the team in the stunning surroundings of Monaco this morning. Set against an idyllic backdrop of rolling hills and sparkling sea, the serenity was soon broken by the scream of Formula 1 cars tearing through the narrow streets.

Both Kimi and Romain surged out of the garage on the hour to complete their install laps on the yellow marked soft tyres. Kimi’s return to the pits would be his last action of the morning, with the Finn requesting a different steering setup which required a total rebuild of the front suspension; inevitably consuming the entire 90 minute session despite the best efforts of the mechanics.

Thus it was left to Romain to put the E20 through its paces on his first visit to Monaco in a Formula 1 car. Having performed spectacularly in the GP2 race here last year the Frenchman was quickly up to speed, setting the fastest time in his first stint on the soft compound tyres – just under 40 minutes into the session.

Having been displaced from his perch at the top of the standings shortly afterwards, Romain returned to the track in determined fashion, fleetingly returning to the head of the leaderboard before just being edged by Fernando Alonso.

With 8 minutes left to run the red flags were waved as Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham stopped out on track, just after the famous tunnel. With no time to clear the car before the clock reached zero, the session was declared over and the order remained.

As the chequered flag dropped Romain ended the session in P2 with a fastest time of 1:16.630 from 17 laps, while Kimi has yet to take to the Monaco streets after a morning of tweaks to his E20.

Pos--Driver---------------Team------------------Time---------------Laps
 1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m16.265s            22
 2.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m16.630s  + 0.365   17
 3.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m16.711s  + 0.446   19
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m16.747s  + 0.482   12
 5.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m16.760s  + 0.495   20
 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m16.843s  + 0.578   19
 7.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m17.038s  + 0.773   21
 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m17.190s  + 0.925   13
 9.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m17.222s  + 0.957   14
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m17.261s  + 0.996   18
11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m17.413s  + 1.148   14
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m17.631s  + 1.366   18
13.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m18.106s  + 1.841   14
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.209s  + 1.944   25
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.252s  + 1.987   28
16.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m18.302s  + 2.037   16
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m18.617s  + 2.352   20
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m19.03$s  + 2.774   20
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m19.341s  + 3.076   16
20.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m20.838s  + 4.573   26
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m20.895s  + 4.630   18
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m21.638s  + 5.373    9
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m22.423s  + 6.158   15
24.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault                               1