Kimi Brasil

A sole E20 took to the streets of Monaco during the first Free Practice session in Monaco this morning, with Romain charging to P2 while Kimi remained confined to the garage for extensive steering adjustments to his car

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-03

• Position: N/A
• Best Time: N/A
• Laps Completed: N/A

Romain Grosjean, E20-04

• Position: P2
• Best Time: 1:16.630
• Laps Completed: 17

For a full run-down of the session’s final standings.
Clear blue skies and mild temperatures greeted the team in the stunning surroundings of Monaco this morning. Set against an idyllic backdrop of rolling hills and sparkling sea, the serenity was soon broken by the scream of Formula 1 cars tearing through the narrow streets.

Both Kimi and Romain surged out of the garage on the hour to complete their install laps on the yellow marked soft tyres. Kimi’s return to the pits would be his last action of the morning, with the Finn requesting a different steering setup which required a total rebuild of the front suspension; inevitably consuming the entire 90 minute session despite the best efforts of the mechanics.

Thus it was left to Romain to put the E20 through its paces on his first visit to Monaco in a Formula 1 car. Having performed spectacularly in the GP2 race here last year the Frenchman was quickly up to speed, setting the fastest time in his first stint on the soft compound tyres – just under 40 minutes into the session.

Having been displaced from his perch at the top of the standings shortly afterwards, Romain returned to the track in determined fashion, fleetingly returning to the head of the leaderboard before just being edged by Fernando Alonso.

With 8 minutes left to run the red flags were waved as Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham stopped out on track, just after the famous tunnel. With no time to clear the car before the clock reached zero, the session was declared over and the order remained.

As the chequered flag dropped Romain ended the session in P2 with a fastest time of 1:16.630 from 17 laps, while Kimi has yet to take to the Monaco streets after a morning of tweaks to his E20.