Practice 1 Report - Alonso quickest in Monaco

Fernando Alonso set the quickest time of the first free practice session in Monte Carlo, the Ferrari lapping in 1:16.265s.

Second quickest was an impressive Romain Grosjean in the Lotus (1:16.630) as the Lotus men enjoyed very differing fortunes. Kimi Raikkonen completed just an installation lap, which was enough for him to know that he was not happy with the Lotus steering.

An excellent third quickest was Sergio Perez (1:16.711) who looked strong around the streets of the Principality on his F1 debut last season, before a heavy accident in Q3 put him in hospital.

Lewis Hamilton (1:16.747) was among the quick men throughout the session, just a couple of hundredths quicker than Spanish GP winner Pastor Maldonado.

Felipe Massa, fighting for his Ferrari future if the rumours are to be believed, was sixth fastest in the second Ferrari on 1:16.843, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi (1:17.038) and Jenson Button (1:17.190) in the second Sauber and McLaren respectively.

World champion Sebastian Vettel got the quicker of the Red Bulls around in 1:17.222 to go ninth quickest, ahead of the Mercedes twins, Nico Rosberg (1:17.261) and Michael Schumacher (1:17.413).