Fernando Alonso was fastest in the final practice session at Monaco which was disrupted by two crashes.
The session was only eight laps old when Nico Rosberg crashed at the Nouvelle chicane on his first flying lap.
He lost control of his car much as Vitaly Petrov had on Thursday, but hurtled onto the run-off at the chicane with broken steering. The car briefly flew through the air after hitting a run-off strip and came perilously lose to hitting the barrier, before coming to a stop.
The session was stopped for 13 minutes while the car was recovered.
Vitantonio Liuzzi crashes – for the second time this weekend – at Sainte Devote, five minutes before the end of the session.
The HRT was recovered quickly and the session was restarted with two minutes left.
Liuzzi’s crash came as the Red Bulls were about to do their quickest laps on super-soft tyres.
Fernando Alonso had already gone fastest with a 1’14.433, a comfortable half-second quicker than Jenson Button.
The other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton was sixth after losing time with a steering problem earlier in the session.
Felipe Massa was third fastest after a trip down the escape road at Sainte Devote.
Vettel was fourth ahead of Michael Schumacher.
Jaime Alguersuari was eighth-fastest despite clipping the barrier during one run.
The other Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi was ninth in front of Sergio Perez, who was one of few drivers to improve his lap time after the second red flag.
Combined practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Total laps |
1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’16.732 | 1’15.123 | 1’14.433 | 84 |
2 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’17.534 | 1’15.448 | 1’14.996 | 79 |
3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’17.316 | 1’15.781 | 1’15.024 | 88 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’17.350 | 1’15.228 | 1’15.386 | 70 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’16.619 | 1’15.667 | 1’15.245 | 90 |
6 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’18.805 | 1’16.356 | 1’15.310 | 68 |
7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’17.139 | 1’15.321 | 67 | |
8 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’16.642 | 1’15.772 | 64 | |
9 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’17.789 | 1’16.617 | 56 | |
10 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’19.234 | 1’17.581 | 1’16.736 | 71 |
11 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’19.792 | 1’17.541 | 1’16.821 | 90 |
12 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’18.578 | 1’19.053 | 1’16.990 | 59 |
13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’21.548 | 1’17.101 | 1’18.069 | 95 |
14 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1’18.928 | 1’17.126 | 1’17.880 | 74 |
15 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’19.395 | 1’17.570 | 1’17.196 | 76 |
16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1’18.527 | 1’17.633 | 1’17.333 | 96 |
17 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’18.733 | 1’17.337 | 1’17.779 | 68 |
18 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’19.768 | 1’17.706 | 1’17.403 | 80 |
19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1’20.083 | 1’18.266 | 1’18.115 | 93 |
20 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1’21.116 | 1’18.490 | 1’19.259 | 85 |
21 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’21.815 | 1’19.338 | 1’18.580 | 73 |
22 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’21.758 | 1’19.185 | 1’18.808 | 92 |
23 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’19.463 | 25 | ||
24 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1’22.840 | 1’20.115 | 28 | |
25 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1’23.885 | 1’22.066 | 1’20.278 | 78 |
2011 Monaco Grand Prix
Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
28th May 2011, 11:10
I ran out of internet allowance with about 5 minutes to go in the session. Could someone please describe Liuzzi’s crash? :P
By the way, I’ll be missing the GP2 sprint race, WSBR Formula Renault 3.5 race and the Indy 500 thanks to my silly ISP. ;)
slr
28th May 2011, 11:13
From memory, Liuzzi lost it midway through the corner and hit the barrier.
Leftie (@leftie)
28th May 2011, 11:20
Pretty much the same way Vettel did in the race back in 2009. Lost the read end near the apex, and putted left rear corner into the barrier.
Doance (@doance)
28th May 2011, 11:20
He was at the exit of the turn when the back end of his car stepped out hit the barrier.
Stretch (@stretch)
28th May 2011, 11:24
Missed it as well due to the vip stream changing channels :( Anyway:
Liuzzi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuvdfKLojW0
Rosberg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6m2NKdYHxI
FunkyF1
28th May 2011, 12:19
thanks for the links Stretch :)
Michel S. (@hircus)
28th May 2011, 11:30
Aw, that’s annoying. Where do you watch GP2 and FR 3.5 online, by the way?
I’ll be missing watching Indy live too, thanks to forgetting all about it when buying opera tickets months ago :p
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th May 2011, 11:35
Internet…allowance? What’s going on?!
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
28th May 2011, 12:12
My ISP has a download limit before they slow be to 64kbps (which feels like 2kbps).
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th May 2011, 14:52
Ouch. Uncool!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th May 2011, 11:51
Liuzzi’s crash was a bit like Vettel’s two years ago, only bigger.
Antranik (@antranik)
28th May 2011, 11:17
Alonso’s looking very good this weekend… hope he can challenge Vettel for the pole/win
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th May 2011, 11:38
He does. ALMOST tempted to stick him on pole for my prediction, I don’t know though. Such a tough choice D:
a4p (@a4p)
28th May 2011, 11:17
Please, could anyone describe me Alonso’s lap? ;)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th May 2011, 11:19
Fast.
Fixy (@)
28th May 2011, 11:55
Lol!
Oliver
28th May 2011, 12:03
Lol, was wondering how one could reply to that question.
Todfod (@todfod)
28th May 2011, 12:15
He went flat out.
(Thats as descriptive as it can get) :)
LSL
28th May 2011, 12:06
Thanks Ollie:)
(family guy reference:D)
FunkyF1
28th May 2011, 12:29
aprox 55 gear changes were made
mrhelix21 (@)
28th May 2011, 11:20
Alonso looking really strong. Predicting this will be hard because we dont know how much/if Red Bull are sandbagging.
Doance (@doance)
28th May 2011, 11:25
Red Bull didnt get a chance to set their good laps because of Liuzzi’s crash.
HK (@me4me)
28th May 2011, 11:22
Alonso doing great so far in Monaco, but Vettel did that lap on soft tyres.
Raj
28th May 2011, 11:27
Although alonso looks strong, it seems red bull haven’t set a fast lap on super soft tyres and more over they are not using DRS on those laps. probably their car is already so fast tht if they enable DRS may be end up in barriers due to speed ;). My bet is it will be vettel,alonso and lewis/webber for top 3 positions in qualifying..
Kev (@)
28th May 2011, 11:27
Alonso’s first lap on super softs was aborted after a super quick first sector. He did his timed lap in his second lap and the pace continued into the third too. Seems like there is more pace on the Ferrari than that was showed on the track.
But the RB of Vettel seems fast and could be a straight fight between Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton. If those three can save super sots from being used in Q1 and Q2, then God save the middle runners. They are going to be lapped.
I quite liking Alonso’s new livery on his helmet. Hope he retains it.
And Alonso confirming the 6 tenths in his bag with almost an identical gap to Massa. I think Massa is driving to his potential. It is just that Alonso is unreal:)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th May 2011, 11:28
Good chance we could see the fastest lap of the current configuration of Monaco in practice.
The record for the current configuration is Kimi Räikkönen’s 1’13.532 from 2006: Monte-Carlo – circuit information
Times improves by a second from FP3 to Q3 last year, and the red flag at the end of FP3 meant we probably didn’t see the very best the drivers had to offer.
Stefanauss (@stefanauss)
28th May 2011, 11:28
It seems to me that there is a bigger gap here between the first 4 teams and the rest of the pack than previously this season. And also not so massive gaps between the 2 compounds, slightly less than a sec.
It might be that they all can get away in Q1 and (maybe) also Q2 (Red Bull, Alonso) staying on the soft tires.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th May 2011, 11:33
Glad to see Nico’s ok. It wasn’t a particularly big smash as far as the monocoque is concerned but he could have so easily hit that dividing wall.
Didn’t see what happened with Liuzzi due to the BBC making a mess of the red button service, looked pretty bad though.
I’m kinda hoping Rosberg isn’t ready for qualifying so we can see him do a Webber!
Stefanauss (@stefanauss)
28th May 2011, 11:37
This is the biggest point of interest in the season so far.
Will “do a Webber” survive 2011 and become part of the sport’s slang?
Blame Vettel for that.
Pinak
28th May 2011, 11:48
In Monaco, that’s practically impossible in the Petronas Mercedes GP.
Sound_Of_Madness
28th May 2011, 11:36
Should VL fail to set a quali lap, will he make it to the race or it will be the 107% rule in effect?
Fixy (@)
28th May 2011, 11:58
That’s what I wondered. If his FP3 lap will be counted, will the 107% be of the fastest time in FP3 or Q1?
Bleu
28th May 2011, 11:38
The Red Bulls were not able to drive a good lap on supersofts, but Vettel was well ahead the others while using softs. So I have to think him as a favourite for the pole. However I can see Alonso making it to the front row ahead of Webber.
Bonzo (@bonzo)
28th May 2011, 11:42
Whats up with the Renaults? Very slow.
Tito
28th May 2011, 11:46
This cuold be Alonso´s weekend, if we look only at the times set before the super softs, vettel got the best lap 20 minutes after alonso did and monaco´s track improves a lot in that time.
Cant wait til tomorrow
Eggry (@eggry)
28th May 2011, 11:48
Alonso is doing well. but Redbull’s records are from prime tyre. They would be the fastest cars again.
ionut
28th May 2011, 11:49
keith, any idea if rosberg will attend quali ?
FunkyF1
28th May 2011, 12:34
there is a fair bit of damage to the car, let’s hope so
Fixy (@)
28th May 2011, 11:58
There’s an enormous difference between FP1 and FP3 times, and also between 1st and 24th.
KP
28th May 2011, 12:02
Did Button get his time on softs ?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th May 2011, 12:03
No, super-softs.
Macca77
28th May 2011, 12:35
Go Schumi ! Great improvement for the Schumster (he beat NR for the first time in this weekend)
VXR
28th May 2011, 12:47
Not difficult under the circumstances. ;)
HRT may go to the stewards and suggest to them that Liuzzi’s car will be no slower than its sister car, should that qualify within the 107% rule.