25/05/2006
NEWS STORY
Anthony Davidson was the fastest Michelin runner on the opening day of the Monaco Grand Prix meeting, posting a 1:16.025 lap in the afternoon. The Englishman crashed moments after crossing the line, which forced him to miss the rest of the session, although his time ended up as the day's second quickest on aggregate.
Juan Pablo Montoya was third and quickest of the regular racers. In all, eight Michelin drivers from four partner teams featured in the top ten, with world championship leader Fernando Alonso in fourth place ahead of Robert Doornbos, Kimi Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella, David Coulthard and Jenson Button.
McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen – winner of the 2005 Monaco GP – pulled off the track amid a cloud of smoke this morning. The problem was traced to a broken heat shield and the engine did not have to be changed, although a fresh wiring loom was required.
Today's second free practice session was red-flagged three times – firstly when a chicane marker cone was knocked down and left in the centre of the track, secondly when Davidson crashed heavily at Ste Dévote and finally when Robert Kubica hit the barriers at Rascasse.
Honda driver Rubens Barrichello is racing in close friend Tony Kanaan's helmet colours this weekend. In return, Kanaan will sport Barrichello's colours in Sunday's Indianapolis 500.
Nick Shorrock, Michelin Formula One director: "It is a delight to be backin Monte Carlo – particularly in such glorious conditions – and the first part of the weekend has gone extremely well from our perspective. We've had two very good sessions today. The track was a bit slippery this morning, as is usually the case here, but it evolved significantly during the day and we were able to conduct some excellent comparative tests across a range of six tyre compounds that our partner teams are using.
"This tends to be the 'softest' race of the year in terms of tyre compounds and so far all our products have performed exactly as we hoped."
To check out our Monaco practice gallery, click here