Practice 1 Report - Renault looks strong

The first practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend ended in tears for Kimi Raikkonen with his McLaren-Mercedes grinding to a smoky halt after just a couple of laps at the end of the session. The team is currently looking at the problem but it could mean that Raikkonen starts the weekend with a 10-place drop on the grid. At Monaco this is a disastrous penalty for any driver as overtaking is tough.

At the front it was business as usual with Fernando Alonso fastest ahead of Anthony Davidson and Giancarlo Fisichella. But Michael Schumacher was right there as well.

Behind the Ferrari star there was a gap of half a second back to Juan Pablo Montoya's McLaren. Sixth quickest in the session was BMW test driver Robert Kubica, but the Polish driver did not complete the session because of mechanical trouble while the top 10 was completed by the Williams of Alexander Wurz, Jenson Button's Honda, Robert Doornbos's Red Bull and Honda's Rubens Barrichello.