2014 Monaco Grand Prix Thursday - Practice
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Noise news from BEN ANDERSON: "The Red Bull-Renault emits an aggressive gargle off-throttle. Ferrari turbo gives a high-pitched 'pow' sound".
Raikkonen's Ferrari is stuttering its way up the Beau Rivage at a very reduced pace.
Replays show Kvyat losing it under braking for Sainte Devote, he gets very sideways and ends up in the escape road but misses the wall and rejoins.
Raikkonen appears to be slowing on the pits straight.
BEN ANDERSON: The Ferraris are both taking big lumps on the right apex kerb, but have to lift of as they do so. The Toro Rossos are hard on the throttle all the way.
The track conditions seem to be improving quickly, and that's reflecting in the lap times. Kvyat in the 1m37s now.
Stopwatch
Improvements from both Toro Rosso drivers, with Vergne still ahead with a 1m38.933s.
BEN ANDERSON at the trackside: Vergne showed way more confidence over the kerbs than Kvyat, but the Russian is flirting with them now.
Stopwatch
He is outpaced by Vergne right away, the Frenchman over two seconds faster with a lap of 1m42.484s.
Stopwatch
Kvyat sets the first time of the session: a 1m44.982s.
Raikkonen has joined the action too, and so has Alonso.
Kvyat stays on track and looks set to be the first man to complete a timed lap.
The sun is now shining (sort of).
BEN ANDERSON: Dry patches are appearing on the track at the Swimming Pool complex entry. The circuit should improve rapidly during this final part of the session.
Sutil is back in the pits after an installation lap.
Adrian Sutil, Monaco 2007
A damp Monaco has been a happy hunting ground for Sutil in F1 - topping Saturday morning practice in the wet for Spyker in 2007 and running fourth for Force India (as it then became) a year later before being rammed by Raikkonen were pivotal moments in his early grand prix career.
Vergne also leaves the pits in the Toro Rosso.
Kvyat heads out, also on intermediates.
Alonso is also getting ready inside of his Ferrari. Hopefully the action will intensify soon.
EDD STRAW: "Sutil is out on the intermediates. He's a great driver to watch in damp/intermediate conditions. Has a good feel for the available grip. His best conditions are probably a little less wet than this though."
You better sit down to hear the news: a car is leaving the pits. It's Sutil, with intermediates.
BEN ANDERSON: Applause now in the grandstand as the Sauber comes out!
Then again, once it's dry enough, chances are most teams will go out too...
EDD STRAW: "So, nobody really wants to go out on track to dry the track until other cars have been out to dry the track. Getting to the point where some will actually have to head out anyway though."
Twitter
Sutil is getting belted into his Sauber, and the team has tweet-promised its fans that it will be out when it's dry enough.
EDD STRAW: "While watching trackside earlier, one driver that it was a shame not to see in action was Mark Webber. He was a real master of Monaco. At his best around here."
The action in the grandstands is rather frantic, however, as fans deploy a huge Ferrari banner.
EDD STRAW: "If this was 1998, Minardis would be circulating and keeping people amused. Send for Shinji Nakano and Esteban Tuero!"
One hour to go. One lap completed so far.
EDD STRAW: "Have been analysing the laptimes from this session. Bottas did a 48.8 in the middle sector. Did a 36.7 this morning in dry conditions. End of analysis."
BEN ANDERSON: And I think I can hear some ironic cheering too...
Fans are getting impatient and demanding some sort of action from the grandstands.
BEN ANDERSON: The Swimming Pool crowd is starting to whistle and boo at the lack of action. Can't say I blame them. Come on guys!
There was no luck. Nearly half an hour gone and still no sign of any action.
An engine is fired up! But let's not get carried away just yet.
JONATHAN NOBLE: "If you are wondering why drivers are not going out, it is because they already know how difficult things are with this current generation of cars on a wet track like Monaco.
"The risks are too great - especially if the forecast is for better weather over the remainder of the weekend.
"Speaking to Jenson Button on Wednesday, he said: 'If it is wet it is going to be very tricky. There is no high speed so you cannot get heat in to the tyres, and with the tyres we have got it will be very, very tough.'"
"The risks are too great - especially if the forecast is for better weather over the remainder of the weekend.
"Speaking to Jenson Button on Wednesday, he said: 'If it is wet it is going to be very tricky. There is no high speed so you cannot get heat in to the tyres, and with the tyres we have got it will be very, very tough.'"
Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci chatting in front of the team's garage. He will be making his debut in the FIA press conference this afternoon.
BEN ANDERSON: The sun is desperately trying to break through down at the harbour. Hopefully he can coax the drivers out of their current hibernation.
Raikkonen is in his car and looking like the driver closest to having a go at running. But no sign of that yet.
The noise of the 2014 F1 cars is at its most distinctive in Monaco where it can rattle off the surrounding walls and buildings. The fact that Grosjean has his fingers in his ears while Lotus revs the car proves that they do make some noise.
Earlier today JONATHAN NOBLE revealed that the FIA hasn't given up on efforts to try to change the noise despite the general consensus that last week's 'trumpet' test was a bit underwhelming - but in his column this week he argues that's time to accept the sound and move on rather than chasing a 'Wacky Races' fix.
Earlier today JONATHAN NOBLE revealed that the FIA hasn't given up on efforts to try to change the noise despite the general consensus that last week's 'trumpet' test was a bit underwhelming - but in his column this week he argues that's time to accept the sound and move on rather than chasing a 'Wacky Races' fix.
By: Matt Beer, Ben Anderson, Pablo Elizalde, Edd Straw, Charles Bradley, Jonathan Noble
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