Alonso tops practice 3 - Monaco

The Spaniard's best lap of 1:13.823 was the fastest time of a session pregnant with promise for a thrilling afternoon qualifying session around the narrows streets of the Mediterranean principality.

Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was second quickest in his Ferrari, just two tenths of a second behind the Spaniard, with Giancarlo Fisichella third in the second Renault a further 0.025 seconds behind the German.

David Coulthard, in a Red Bull Racing, was fourth fastest ahead of Nico Rosberg, in a Williams. Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth for McLaren.

The session was run in bright, warm and dry conditions. The track temperature was 32 degrees Celsius and the air temperature 23 at the start, rising as time passed to 35 and 24 respectively by the 40 minutes mark.

In an incident-free opening half hour, the Ferraris ran strongly and consistently. Felipe Massa was fastest after 15 minutes, before he was outpaced by his teammate Schumacher.

Then, shortly after the 37-year-old German took over at the top, he was replaced as the fastest man by defending champion Alonso in his Renault.

The Spaniard stayed on top only briefly before he, too, was overhauled by first Massa and then Schumacher again, as Ferrari responded with 28 minutes to go in the session.

This was proof positive, if it was needed, that the scuderia were back in the groove, particularly as Schumacher's lap of 1:14.376 was 1.8 seconds better than anyone else.

The second fastest at this stage was Alsono's Renault teammate Fisichella, but then two former winners Coulthard and Montoya clocked times that were also in the 1:14s.

Alonso then responded in real style by clocking his best lap - and it was not too far off the qualifying lap record set by Kimi Raikkonen, who recorded a time of 1:13.644 for McLaren in 2005.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:13.823           19
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:14.031 + 0.208   20
 3.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:14.056 + 0.233   20
 4.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:14.550 + 0.727   19
 5.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:14.623 + 0.800   17
 6.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:14.785 + 0.962   21
 7.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:14.804 + 0.981   16
 8.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:14.842 + 1.019   24
 9.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:15.020 + 1.197   21
10.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:15.124 + 1.301   17
11.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:15.283 + 1.460   20
12.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:15.476 + 1.653   19
13.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:15.591 + 1.768   20
14.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:15.809 + 1.986   26
15.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:16.066 + 2.243   26
16.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:16.147 + 2.324   27
17.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:16.201 + 2.378   21
18.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:16.285 + 2.462   27
19.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:16.456 + 2.633   24
20.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:17.148 + 3.325   24
21.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:17.860 + 4.037   21
22.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:17.934 + 4.111   21

All timing unofficial