Trulli 'Struggling for Grip'

Trulli, last year's winner at the principality, could only set the 13th quickest time in this afternoon's session, over 1.5 seconds off the pace.

The Italian driver, currently in second place in the drivers' standings, complained about the lack of grip of his Toyota.

"Today was a very difficult day for me," admitted Trulli. "Monaco is one of my favourite circuits but I've been really struggling for grip all day, even as the track improved. I really haven't managed to find a set-up I like on the car yet.

"Whatever changes I make, they do not seem to have a positive reaction. So all I can say is that it's been a difficult day. Still, anything can happen in F1 ­ especially here ­ so we'll give everything to turn our situation around for the weekend."

Ralf Schumacher enjoyed a stronger day, posting the ninth quickest time, the German sounding more optimistic than his teammate.

"We had a pretty good day and we completed a lot of laps, getting through all our work without any problems," Schumacher said. "We still obviously have work to do on set-up but that's always the case in Monaco. We'll also have to have a good look at the data to make our final tyre choice.

"Still, I'm still relatively optimistic for the rest of the weekend. We will be hoping for another strong points finish and doing everything to see if we can make the podium."