In the days leading up to this event, the weather forecast has looked very changeable and that was definitely the case today, as bright sunshine in the morning gave way to light rain towards the end of the second session, with a heavy downpour following the chequered flag as the GP 2 cars went out for qualifying.

Now, another Monaco tradition, there is no track action today, at least for the F1 cars, so that Fernando and Felipe will not be getting back in the cockpit of their F10s until the final free practice on Saturday morning. However, the drivers and engineers will not be “on holiday” as they pour over all the data acquired, to be as well prepared as possible for the rest of the weekend, while with no parc ferme restrictions, the mechanics can work on the cars.

Second yesterday was Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, followed by fellow German, Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull. Behind Felipe in fifth, was the Brazilian’s former team-mate and multiple Monaco winner, Michael Schumacher in the other Mercedes while the top six was completed by self-confessed street circuit fan, Robert Kubica in the Renault.

“This weekend has got off to a positive start for us, but we are well aware that the result of free practice does not tell you much and that, especially on an untypical track like this, the situation can change rapidly,” said Stefano Domenicali. “There is still a lot of work to do to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and the race, but we can be reasonably confident in affirming that we will be in the hunt. Now we have over a day and a half ahead of us to fine tune every detail in order to get out every last bit of potential from the package we have at our disposal.”

Fernando Alonso: “It’s only Thursday, so the main aim was to understand how the tyres work and get confident with the circuit. On this track a major set up change might give you half a tenth, but trusting your driving can see you gain half a second. We therefore worked on finding the right feeling with the car and on making it easy to drive. There is still a lot of work to do and quite a margin for improvement. The track conditions will get better by Saturday, given that so many cars from the different categories will be running over the next couple of days. I hope that in two days time I will again find a well balanced car. I can understand that there could be a level of pessimism after the show of strength from Red Bull in Barcelona qualifying, but we know that here, having the right set-up can make more of a difference than pure aerodynamic downforce and we already have a good baseline, given that last year, Kimi nearly took pole with a car that was far off the F10 in terms of its potential.”

Felipe Massa: “The situation is definitely very different to Barcelona. From one week to the next I have found a much more stable car which is easy to drive and has much more grip. I have to say I can only be happy with the F10 and the way things went today. Having said that, there is still a lot to do to be done to be as well prepared as possible for the rest of the weekend. The traffic could be a problem, especially in Q1 and we will have to try and manage the situation as well as possible. Here it is always difficult to get a perfect lap: there are so many slow corners where you can lose a lot of time, which you never get back. However, getting it right is really especially satisfying.”

Chris Dyer: “I would say this was a good day. First of all, it’s always positive to be able to complete three hours of free practice around the Monaco track without doing any damage to the cars, which meant both drivers were able to work through their entire planned programme: we just had to shorten the time on some elements in the afternoon, because of the approaching rain. Both Felipe and Fernando said they were pleased with the handling of the car and managed to get both types of tyre brought here by Bridgestone to work well. Clearly, without knowing the fuel loads in the cars of our closest rivals, it’s hard to know exactly where we are compared to them, but I think I can safely say we should be able to fight for the top places on the starting grid.”

Thursday practice details:

First Session Second Session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Alonso 1st 1.15.927 32 1st 1.14.904 36 283
F. Massa 5th 1.16.517 30 4th 1.15.120 45 284