• Monaco Grand Prix FP1

Vettel quickest as Webber sits out session

Sebastian Vettel had a much more productive morning than his team-mate Mark Webber © Sutton Images

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• Report:
• Alonso fastest in competitive session
  

• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Sebastian Vettel
• |
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• Red Bull
• |
• Team Lotus

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, as his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was forced to sit out the session with a gearbox problem.

Vettel's time of 1:16.619 just edged out Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by 0.1s, ahead of Nico Rosberg in third. It was a less successful session for Rosberg's team-mate Michael Schumacher, however, as the seven-time world champion went off at Ste Devote late on. Felipe Massa was fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who would have been much quicker but had his final run baulked by a slow HRT as traffic was a problem for many drivers.

Jenson Button was within a second of Vettel's time in sixth, ahead of the improving Pastor Maldonado - who is something of a specialist around the Monaco streets.

After a truck fire damaged the track surface at turn one on Tuesday and with the circuit lacking grip it was a quiet start to the session as only Narain Karthikeyan tentatively racked up the laps. Many of the drivers opted to stay in the garage to preserve the limited number of tyres available to them.

Heikki Kovalainen was the first driver to make a slight mistake, outbraking himself down in to turn one and having to make use of the run off area to recover. Schumacher followed suit later in the session but was unable to keep his Mercedes out of the wall, clouting the right hand side in to the tyres.

But it was Tonio Liuzzi who had been the first real casualty of the tight circuit as the rear of his HRT stepped out under braking on the run down to the Nouvelle Chicane and he lost his front wing against the barriers on the inside of the corner.

The session was red flagged for a few minutes around the half way point as marshals inspected standing water near the finish line. The cause appeared to be a leaking or burst water pipe below the track surface that was seeping through the tarmac, but after a five-minute delay officials deemed it safe to resume.

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