Thursday Second Free Practice - Monaco GP

Italian Jarno Trulli topped the times for Renault after Thursday's first day of practice for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix with a late lap that prevented Toyota's Allan McNish from claiming the glory in a session that was red-flagged when Minardi's Alex Yoong collided with the barriers and saw four drivers were left with wrecked cars after colliding with the barriers.

At the overcast harbourside street circuit, Trulli set a fastest lap of 1:18.915 to beat Scot McNish by almost half a second, as World Champion Michael Schumacher, who is bookies' favourite for Sunday's race, languished in 11th place for Ferrari.

McNish's countryman David Coulthard, of McLaren, claimed third place with Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella fourth, the second Toyota of Mika Salo fifth, and Ralf Schumacher sixth in the fastest Williams-BMW.

Rubens Barrichello was the fastest Ferrari, in seventh place, with Minardi's Mark Webber reaching the dizzy heights of eighth, just more than one second off Trulli's pace.

Juan Pablo Montoya made it two Williams-BMW cars in the top ten with ninth fastest time despite a hairy moment when he went on at the Mirabeau corner, and Jenson Button, who crashed there late in the session, completed the top ten for Renault.

Yoong stopped the session after five minutes when he collided with the barriers in front of diners in the restaurant at La Rascasse. The Malaysian driver briefly locked up his wheels and slid into the awaiting barrier on the inside of the corner. The impact sent his front wing flying and scattered debris over the track, forcing the session to be stopped for five minutes.

Sauber driver Felipe Massa escaped from a scary moment when he spun coming into the chicane at the end of the high-speed tunnel section of the track. The Brazilian completed a full 360 degrees rotation and straightened the car up just in time to miss the barriers and continue his lap.

Later in the session, however, Massa was not so lucky when he lost control of his Sauber and clattered the barriers on the exit of Tabac. The light crash damaged the car's right-hand side suspension and it was craned off the track.

Enrique Bernoldi went straight on at the Casino half way through the session when the Cosworth engine in his Arrows blew up and at the same time, Ulsterman Eddie Irvine slid into the barriers at Massenet, the corner before Casino, possibly after hitting oil left by the stricken Arrows.

With 15 minutes to go, it was an all Scottish front-row, with McNish leading countryman Coulthard, while fellow Briton Button was left to walk back to the pits after hitting the barriers in his Renault at Mirabeau with less than ten minutes to go.

But low turned to high almost immediately for Renault, when Button's teammate Trulli rocketed to the top of the times with two minutes of the session left to go and stayed there until the end.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Trulli Renault (M) 1:18.915 153.735 km/h 43 2. McNish Toyota (M) 1:19.361 + 0.446 47 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:19.597 + 0.682 35 4. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:19.680 + 0.765 24 5. Salo Toyota (M) 1:19.815 + 0.900 36 6. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:19.937 + 1.022 45 7. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:19.945 + 1.030 41 8. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:20.028 + 1.113 44 9. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:20.264 + 1.349 40 10. Button Renault (M) 1:20.375 + 1.460 34 11. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:20.404 + 1.489 28 12. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:20.887 + 1.972 58 13. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:21.005 + 2.090 42 14. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:21.086 + 2.171 56 15. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:21.638 + 2.723 36 16. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:21.683 + 2.768 38 17. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:21.868 + 2.953 39 18. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:21.876 + 2.961 18 19. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:22.904 + 3.989 6 20. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:22.917 + 4.002 29 21. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:23.150 + 4.235 31 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:26.518 + 7.603 24 All Timing Unofficial