» Brake balance change caused Petrov crash

Vitaly Petrov looked like an accident waiting to happen during qualifying, and after making it into the second phase of the 60-minute afternoon session, the Renault driver rather predictably slid into the tyres at Ste Devote after several leery moments in the preceding minutes leading up to his accident.

The Russian has now had successive Saturday accidents in China, Spain and now Monaco, leaving his mechanics with plenty of overtime claims on their timesheets.

"I tried to change the brake balance to the rear but it was too much for my first flying lap and the rear locked, I spun and touched the wall," the F1 rookie explained. "For tomorrow my target will be to finish the race. It’s very difficult to make up ground at the start but anything can happen, so hopefully I can score some points."