Monaco GP: Practice Session 1

Jenson Button was a hugely promising 8th fastest on his first session around the tricky streets. The Williams driver spent part of the session at the top of the times, before the established runners put their fast laps in.

In contrast, his team mate Ralf Schumacher spun into the wall before the tunnel, and ended up last in the times.

Michael Schumacher was the first of the front runners to show his hand, and for a while no-one could approach the German. His first flying lap of 1m26.119 was lowered by more than a second on his second flying lap.

Alexander Wurz put in a more promising performance, perhaps spurred by Benetton's recent interest in potential replacements for the Austrian, by spending part of the session second only to Schumacher. However, his time was 2.5 seconds off that of the Ferrari driver, and he was eventually shaded once again by team mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

The McLaren drivers brought the big guns to bear when Coulthard and Hakkinen jumped to the top of the times near the end of the session. With about seven minutes to go Coulthard set a lap of 1'24"134 , and Hakkinen was second on 1'24"432.

However, Schumacher had the answer for both of them, beating their effort by a relatively huge 0.7 seconds. Hakkinen responded, but was still 0.3 seconds off the Ferrari driver as the session closed.

P. Driver Team Times
1. M Schumacher Ferrari 1'23"039
2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1'23"397
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1'23"457
4. Fisichella Benetton Supertec 1'23"788
5. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1'24"341
6. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1'24"607
7. Irvine Jaguar 1'24"649
8. Button Williams BMW 1'24"768
9 Barrichello Ferrari 1'25"095
10. Salo Sauber Petronas 1'25"183
11. Wurz Benetton Supertec 1'25"325
12. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1'26"181
13. Zonta BAR Honda 1'26"627
14. Villeneuve BAR Honda 1'26"708
15. De La Rosa Arrows Supertec 1'26"779
16. Herbert Jaguar Ford 1'26"870
17. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1'27"031
18. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1'27"074
19. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1'27"431
20. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1'27"475
21. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1'27"493
22. R Schumacher Williams BMW 1'40"863