15.05.2010 PRACTICE CRASH FOR ALONSO SET TO ELIMINATE THE SPANIARD FROM QUALIFYING

FERNANDO ALONSO - FERRARI F10 - MONACO
FERRARI F10

Fernando Alonso will not take part in qualifying in Monaco this afternoon after the damage caused to his car during the final practice session this morning proved too much to repair and the team is now building up a new car for tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso will not take part in qualifying in Monaco this afternoon after the damage caused to his car during the third and final free practice session this morning proved too much to repair and the Ferrari team is now building up a new car for tomorrow. The damage to his car, following the accident early in the session "is not repairable," announced Ferrari, "and therefore the chassis has to be changed; a job that requires at least four hours to complete.

Alonso was fastest in both the opening free practice sessions which took place on Thursday as the Spaniard set the pace in Monte Carlo ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session. Alonso lost control of his car at Massenet in FP3 this morning, rubbing the right hand side of the car into the guardrails. He told the BBC afterwards that it was driver error and that he just "lost the car". The team faced a frantic two hours after the session finished, especially as it was immediately suspected the gearbox might have been damaged, to get the car rebuilt for the crucial qualifying sessions which starts at 14.00. However on closer examination the mechanics decided that the chassis couldn't be repaired and Alonso is set to start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

In the morning, Ferrari's potential on the streets of Monte Carlo this year was shown by Alonso's team mate Felipe Massa, who finished second fastest, just a few thousandths of a second slower than the Renault of Robert Kubica: now all the team’s hopes for a good showing rest on the Brazilian’s shoulders. As always on this narrow street circuit, traffic had a major impact on the third free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix. While fastest time in the final session went to Kubica (1.14.806) who was followed by Massa (1.14.852), third went to the Red Bull of Mark Webber (1.14.945), the Australian winner of the last round of the F1 World Championship, the Spanish Grand Prix, just six days ago. Ferrari's Brazilian driver used soft tyres for his first two runs and hard for the last of his three and he did a good job of making the most of the few laps that were traffic free while Alonso was classified sixteenth (1.16.266) as he crashed into the barriers after just six laps.
 

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