Second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix finished with a familiar name at the top of the times – familiar, that is, as a Friday fastest man for it is Nico Rosberg in the Williams FW31. To the credit of Nico and the team Williams are traditionally very competitive around here, but so far this year have failed to transfer their Friday pace into the rest of the weekend.
However, a 1:15.243s puts the young German two tenths faster than the next best time, that set by one Lewis Hamilton, the world champion proving again that the McLaren is not as badly affected by the deficiencies that have affected it around this tight and twisty track. It could be that an aggressive qualifying strategy and a faultless race may be the once-mighty team’s best chance of success in 2009, but we have some way to go yet.
Third went to Rubens Barrichello, a man who is clearly on a mission this weekend and pipping his title-leading team mate Jenson Button by a couple of tenths as the Brawns once again look very good, and fifth was Felipe Massa in the faster of the two Ferrari’s, his team mate Kimi Raikkonen ending the day in eighth position.
Fastest of the Red Bull runners was Sebastian Vettel, the young star having suffered a blow up this morning and ending the day six tenths down on the best times with team mate Mark Webber further back in 12th. Evidence, perhaps, that all may not be well with the new double diffuser set up on the RB5 comes with the news that these two did much fewer laps than most, although it could be they did not see the need.
With Heikki Kovalainen seventh and Kazuki Nakajima ninth it was left to Nelson Piquet Jnr to round out the top ten, the youngster just ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso as the Renault R29 failed to shine, while things go from bad to worse at BMW.
Robert Kubica failed to get in a flying lap before his engine failed, while Nick Heidfeld finished a dejected 17th, and Toyota again failed to show any promise with Jarno Trulli 14th and Timo Glock a dismal 18th fastest.
We have a break now until Saturday, when arguably the most important qualifying session will give us a better picture of who is where in the pecking order.
Written: Thu, 21 May 2009 13:43:56
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