Practice report

Fernando Alonso tops rain-marred FP2 at Monaco

Second practice session heroes are Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton whose teammates got in the bottom of the timesheet.

In front of a huge crowd of Ferrari fans, Fernando Alonso found some pace in the second free practice session at Monaco, posting a top time of 1:18.482. Following his interesting press conference Monaco Press Conference, Kimi Raikkonen had a completely spoiled session due to some technical issues.

Lewis claimed a lap of 1:19.498 on supersofts, and then in one final effort, improved to a 1:18.901. His teammate Nico Rosberg couldn't get a chance for a clear run and ended the session in P20.

The first part of a session was very quiet with all drivers waiting for better conditions as the track was soaked with water.

The first to be out to the track was Williams' Valtteri Bottas after 35 minutes of a session had already gone by.

As the track was drying up, drivers had a chance to change their inters to softs, and do a flying lap. Thanks to the switch, Sebastian Vettel showed a third best time. He was immediately followed by the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne in fourth with a lap of 1:19.351. Hulkenberg was the first to try supersofts, and then many others followed suit.

Behind him was a bunch of Mercedes-powered teams - Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa of Williams placed fifth and 11th respectively, Force India's Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were sixth and seventh, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen eighth and ninth, and finally the Renault-powered Red Bull Racing machine of Daniel Ricciardo in tenth.

All drivers had a good chance to experience how good are Pirelli Intermediate tyres in these conditions, for that case if Saturday's qualifying session will also see the rain.

Daniil Kvyat improved his knowledge of the twisty track and placed his Scuderia Toro Rosso car in P12 in front of Renault and Ferrari powered teams. Adrian Sutil and his Sauber teammate Esteban Gutierrez are in 13th and 15th, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean are 14th and 15th respectively. The fastest of backmarkers was Caterham's experienced driver Kamui Kobayashi who placed his car in front of Marussa's with a lap of 1:21.924.

So is it rain or a huge improvement in Ferrari - we will see in a third free practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. The forecast is clear for that day now. Let's hope it will not change.