The first day of running for the Monaco Grand Prix saw McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso make the best use of his Bridgestone Potenzas to top both practice sessions at the fabulous MonteCarlo street circuit.
Alonso put in a 1min 16.973secs in the morning session and a 1min 15.940secs in the afternoon asrunning took place under fabulous blue skies in the millionaires’ playground. The morning saw Alonso’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton second fastest and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) third quickest, whilst the afternoon saw Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Hamilton go second and third.
It was the first day of a race weekend where Bridgestone’s super soft compound has been used following on from the successful test with the compound at Paul Ricard last week. The soft compound was used earlier in the year at the Australian Grand Prix. There will be no Formula One running on Friday, but cars will return to the track on Saturday with the third free practice and qualifying sessions.
Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations said: “This was the first time we have used the super soft compound Bridgestone Potenza at a race weekend and it provided a faster lap time than the soft compound but with increased graining. It was the first day of running here so there will be track surface improvements, but for many teams the super soft is a challenge to find the correct setup. The soft compound showed mild graining on either the front or the rear depending on the cars’ setups. It was difficult to judge exactly what the difference in terms of lap times is between the two tyres but it seems to be somewhere between a second and half a second depending on the cars and traffic encountered. ”
Stats of the Day
Total amount of laps completed by all drivers: 1320
Average number of laps per car: 60 laps
Most laps by a driver: 76 – Robert Kubica
Fastest lap: 1:15.940s – Fernando Alonso
Compounds: Soft and super soft
Qualifying in 2006
Fernando Alonso (Renault) was awarded pole position with a time of 1min 13.962secs in one of the most talked-about qualifying sessions in recent F1 history after Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) ended his session in the barriers after setting a time of 1min 13.898secs. He started the race from the back of the grid after being penalised. Mark Webber (Williams) started from second on the grid, whilst the second row consisted of McLaren Mercedes pairing Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.
