MONACO, 20 May 2005 — Renault’s championship leader Fernando Alonso looked every bit the Monaco Grand Prix favorite with the fastest lap in yesterday’s practice.
The Spaniard, who will be chasing his fourth win in six races on Sunday, powered round the tight street circuit in one minute 15.835 seconds to top the timesheets ahead of McLaren test driver Alex Wurz.
Briton David Coulthard, twice a winner in the Mediterranean principality for McLaren, was third for Red Bull ahead of Alonso’s Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, a winner for Williams in 2003, had been quickest in the morning session for McLaren in 1:17.152.
Alonso was second fastest in that hour-long stint, losing out by 0.149 of a second after leading until the final seconds on a warm and bright morning. Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher managed the fourth best lap in the morning but only the 11th fastest in the afternoon after being sidelined by a mystery vibration.
However, McLaren have become the team to beat after Kimi Raikkonen ended Renault’s run of four wins in a row with victory in the last race in Spain. The Finn was 12th and sixth fastest.
Minardi’s Christijan Albers limping back to the pits without a front wing and Red Bull’s Christian Klien also scattering the track with debris. Sauber’s Felipe Massa skidded sideways into the tire wall at Ste Devote when the front wheel locked up under braking.
