The sun shining above, the waters of the Mediterranean glistening in the harbour, the noise of the engines breaking through the city: the first day of action in the first Monaco Grand Prix weekend in two years didn't disappoint, with all the hallmark features of one of the world's most famous motorsport events.

The thrill and jeopardy of Monaco was present too: cars glanced the barriers, sometimes a caress, sometimes a bit more of a slap; drivers built up their confidence in the tiny confines of the narrow track; and fans - yes, fans - enjoyed the spectacle of 20 cars being driven in anger around the streets of the Principality.

For the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, it was a positive first day of action: no major issues to hamper the day's running, plenty of data to analyse and some comforting first responses from the stopwatch.

Tomorrow, as traditional in Monaco, the cars will remain in the garage: the quest for performance will be a bit less rushed, but just as thorough as usual. Qualifying is crucial around here: it's one of those clichés that are well-steeped in reality, and this year it will be no different.

Cars tearing up the roads of Monte-Carlo. How we missed that.

Kimi Raikkonen: "Today was ok, a straightforward day without big issues. So far, so good, but Saturday is where it matters. We can definitely still improve but so can the others, so we will need to extract all we can for the car and see where that puts us on Saturday. Conditions today were good, but we can't be drawn into making comparisons with other weekends: this track is so unique. It doesn't matter anyways, so long as we're competitive!"

Antonio Giovinazzi: "It has been a positive start to our weekend and I am very happy with the work we did today. FP1 was ok and already in FP2 I felt the balance of the car had improved. I am happy with P9 at the end of the day, but it's qualifying when it really matters: we have to keep being on the pace. I think Monaco is such a unique track, hard to compare with anything else, and I think it really suits us: if we can improve a little more ahead of Saturday, we can be confident."

Check out our Thursday gallery from Monaco, here.