Monaco Grand Prix Practice

This week's Grand Prix in Monaco has come at a great time, giving everyone a short weekend break from the politics and in-fighting that has marred the sport so far this season.

With practice sessions on a Thursday as always in Monaco, the teams have an extra day to prepare for the race and make adjustments to their cars after practice. This could prove extremely important with the continued improvements on many of the cars.

First practice was largely uneventful, with the drivers cruising around the narrow streets of Monaco making the adjustment from the wide-open circuits from the last few weeks.

The big news in the first session was from the Red Bull camp, with a blown engine for Sebastian Vettel and engine trouble for team-mate Mark Webber. 

The Red Bull cars are running their version of the double-decker diffuser for the first time in today's sessions, but the team were quick to dampen any hopes of a much-improved car, saying they won’t see the full benefit on the twisting track at Monaco, but in the coming weeks in Turkey and Silverstone.

Topped by Rubens Barrichello of Brawn, the relatively slow times in the first session saw a big positive step forward for McLaren and Ferrari, whose drivers filled the remaining spots in the top five. 

The Williams cars continued to make a good showing of themselves during P1, but the Toyota cars, who have been doing so well this season, finished bottom of the pile.

Second practice saw times improve by just over two seconds, and once again, King of Practice Nico Rosberg finished top of the pile. 

Lewis Hamilton will be extremely pleased with his two runs today, finishing inside the top three in both sessions, and for the first time this season both Ferrari’s and both McLaren cars were inside the top ten for both of the practice sessions.

The main piece of news to note was from the BMW camp, who had a disastrous start to their weekend. They were already off the pace before some engine trouble for Robert Kubica completely ruined the day for the German team.

Whatever fighting has been going on between the FIA and Formula 1 teams, it will still be the talk of the press come next week, but lets all enjoy a few days of exciting racing on the streets of Monaco.