Montoya sets early pace
Juan Pablo Montoya was in sparkling form when practice for the Monaco Grand Prix began this morning.
The McLaren driver, who is wearing a one-off helmet featuring his name laid out in diamonds, left it late to set the fastest lap of first practice.
His time of one minute 17.152 seconds just pipped world championship leader Fernando Alonso to top spot, with the Renault driver just 0.149secs behind.
Christian Klien, who hopes to return to a race seat next weekend at the Nurburgring, did his cause no harm with third place for Red Bull today.
Klien was within half a second of Montoya after 21 laps around the principality streets in a specially painted car to celebrate the release of the new Star Wars film.
World champion Michael Schumacher was in good form to give Ferrari fourth while Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella took fifth and McLaren tester Alex Wurz sixth.
Scotsman David Coulthard was ninth in the other gaudily-liveried Red Bull as Spanish winner Kimi Raikkonen slipped down to 12th for McLaren.
The usual quiet start to Friday practice did not apply this morning as almost all drivers took the opportunity to clock laps on a track unlike any other on the calendar.
The twisty streets caught two rookies out early on with Jordan’s Narain Karthikeyan and Minardi’s Patrick Friesacher missing the chicane, a common error this morning as drivers struggle to find the limits.
Friesacher’s session came to a premature halt after 35 minutes when his Minardi stopped on the pit lane exit.
Lap times constantly improved as the street circuit was blasted clean by 22 formula one cars, with Schumacher, Klien and Raikkonen all enjoying spells at the top in the first half hour.
Alonso took his time to set a fast lap but when he finally took to the track he quickly set a new standard.
Klien’s strong performance as Red Bull’s third driver was briefly interrupted when the Austrian pushed too hard at the first turn and slid straight on, just avoiding the barriers.
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