Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing tops first free practice session – Monaco Grand Prix, Formula 1
The first free practice session of 90 minutes of the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix is done and dusted in Monte Carlo and the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing once again finished fastest than everyone else.
The German waited in the pits for the first 30 minutes of the race but then came out to produce some thrilling lap times. He did 25 laps out of which the fastest was 1 minute and 16.619 seconds.
While the German enjoyed the top of the table once again, his Australian teammate Mark Webber was down at the bottom of the table. Webber had a gearbox problem early in the session and only managed three laps while he could not put a comprehensive time on
the board.
The second fastest on the list was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who was able to show some grip and speed in his car. The Italy-based team came up with a new rear wing which more or less paid off.
Alonso did a fastest of 1 minute and 6.732 seconds and concluded the session on a high. Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa was down in fourth place almost a second slower than Vettel.
Mercedes’ driver Nico Rosberg once again showed some competitiveness but his performance will be cheered more if he pulls something like that on the race day. The German did a fastest of 1 minute and 17.139 seconds.
Rosberg’s teammate Michael Schumacher however, finished his session on a low as he crashed his car in the final moments. He ended the session as tenth fastest but his participation in the second session is subject to his car repair.
McLaren’s duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished the session in fifth and sixth positions respectively.
Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov finished seventh, eighth and ninth respectively in the opening session.
The opening run of the session was slightly disturbed when some water leaked onto the track but soon was taken care of.
The second session will continue later on Thursday.
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