» Monaco GP: Vettel fastest in first practice

Sebastian Vettel has set the early pace as the action got underway this morning at Monaco, with the defending World Champion emerging fastest after trading quick session times with the Ferrari drivers, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.

Vettel’s fastest lap time – a 1:16.619 – was clocked with just seconds of the 90-minute session to run, with Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg completing the top-three places. Five-time Monaco Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher made a rare mistake, crashing out of the session at the Sainte Devote corner.

Sunny conditions greeted the drivers when the circuit opened for business at 10AM local time, and a warm day was in order with the mercury already nudging 25°C (77°F) at the start of the session.

The slow circuit quickly rubbered in and the times began to drop in earnest in the final 15 minutes of running. Both Ferraris took turns at the top of the timesheets, before Lewis Hamilton went fastest. His time was bettered by Vettel, while Nico Rosberg vaulted to the top of the running order with five minutes to go. But his reign was short-lived, as Alonso and then Vettel moved to the top of the order in a last-minute battle for pride.

Felipe Massa finished the session fourth-fastest, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Jenson Button was sixth-quickest and reported problems with his KERS during the session.

With the top-six covered by just one second on the timesheets, Pastor Maldonado was a surprise seventh-fastest in his Williams, albeit almost a second slower than Button. The Venezuelan rookie has enjoyed a sensational record at Monaco in his pre-F1 career, and he certainly seemed to revel on his first F1 outing at the circuit.

The top-ten was completed by Adrian Sutil, Vitaly Petrov and Michael Schumacher, who made a rare mistake by crashing out of the session with ten minutes to go. Carrying too much speed into the Sainte Devote corner, Schumacher attempted to head up the escape road, only for the right-hand side of his Mercedes GP to collect the tyre barriers. Narain Karthikeyan fell off the circuit in sympathy, but he was able to rejoin the track without making contact with Schumacher or the wall.

Vitantonio Liuzzi was another to suffer misfortune during the session, which was curtailed after he lost control exiting the tunnel, clipping the inside barrier at the Harbourfront Chicane.

Mark Webber languished at the bottom of the timesheets, clocking three slow installation laps before pitting with an apparent gearbox problem that kept him out of the session.

The session was red-flagged for five minutes while track officials investigated the source of a water leak that sprang up under the starting gantry

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2011 Monaco Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Renault RB7	1:16.619	25
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.113	24
3.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP W02	+ 0.520	20
4.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.697	24
5.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 0.731	23
6.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 0.915	24
7.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 1.908	30
8.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 1.959	24
9.	Vitaly Petrov	Renault R31	+ 2.114	16
10.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP W02	+ 2.186	14
11.	Nick Heidfeld	Renault R31	+ 2.309	19
12.	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 2.615	24
13.	Rubens Barrichello	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 2.776	24
14.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 2.844	25
15.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 3.149	25
16.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 3.173	26
17.	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault T128	+ 3.464	23
18.	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault T128	+ 4.497	27
19.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 4.929	32
20.	Jérôme d’Ambrosio	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 5.139	31
21.	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 5.196	17
22.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 6.221	13
23.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 7.266	37
24.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault RB7	no time	3