Post by blacktulip on May 23, 2009 12:26:02 GMT
Two-time Monaco winner Fernando Alonso emerged as the final practice session’s fastest man following a closely-fought Saturday morning on the tortuous street circuit.
The former world champion propelled Renault to the top of the timing charts for the first time in 2009 with a late lap of 1m15.164s on the super-soft tyres, pipping championship leader Jenson Button by just 0.069s in the Brawn.
And if that wasn't close enough, to further whet the appetite for a typically tense Monte Carlo qualifying session, the first seven cars were separated by just over two tenths of a second.
The leading pack continues to include both McLaren and Ferrari, the sport’s big two teams looking set to enjoy perhaps their most competitive weekends of their uncompetitive seasons so far.
McLaren’s MP4-24 has particularly looked far more comfortable on the twisty streets compared to how it did at Barcelona a fortnight ago and Heikki Kovalainen maintained its promising start with the third fastest time, just ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were shuffled down to fifth and sixth in the final order, although still very much on the pace, with Lewis Hamilton winding up seventh having dominated much of the hour in the other McLaren.
The former world champion propelled Renault to the top of the timing charts for the first time in 2009 with a late lap of 1m15.164s on the super-soft tyres, pipping championship leader Jenson Button by just 0.069s in the Brawn.
And if that wasn't close enough, to further whet the appetite for a typically tense Monte Carlo qualifying session, the first seven cars were separated by just over two tenths of a second.
The leading pack continues to include both McLaren and Ferrari, the sport’s big two teams looking set to enjoy perhaps their most competitive weekends of their uncompetitive seasons so far.
McLaren’s MP4-24 has particularly looked far more comfortable on the twisty streets compared to how it did at Barcelona a fortnight ago and Heikki Kovalainen maintained its promising start with the third fastest time, just ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were shuffled down to fifth and sixth in the final order, although still very much on the pace, with Lewis Hamilton winding up seventh having dominated much of the hour in the other McLaren.