Schumacher sets practice pace

Michael Schumacher remains firmly on course for yet another Formula One first after maintaining his perfect record in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.

No-one was able to go faster than the world champion in Thursday’s opening sessions and that trend continued today with Schumacher taking top spot in both this morning’s 45-minute affairs.

Schumacher, who will have made the best-ever start to a Formula One season if he wins tomorrow, may face a battle for pole position this afternoon though after Renault’s Jarno Trulli showed astounding pace in today’s second session.

Ferrari driver Schumacher was again the pacesetter with his lap of one minute 14.014 seconds but Trulli was only 0.002s adrift to raise hopes of a close qualifying scrap.

BAR driver Takuma Sato was also on the pace today and he was just 0.006s behind Schumacher in third.

His team-mate Jenson Button was over half a second down on Schumacher in sixth, one place ahead of McLaren’s David Coulthard, for whom today’s session was a marked improvement after a dismal start to the season.

Fernando Alonso was the first driver to set the pace in second practice before Trulli took over, with lap times dipping well below last season’s pole position time, albeit aided by a revised track lay-out.

Williams’ Juan Pablo Montoya pushed too hard in a bid to keep pace and outbraked himself. He skidded straight on into a tyre barrier and lost his front wing, although he was able to limp back to the pits.

Coulthard showed his liking for Monaco in moving second briefly before first Sato then several others bettered his effort.

Schumacher saved his best until late though and with less than five minutes remaining he went quickest.

Mark Webber’s disastrous weekend continued today with his second engine fire.

The Australian was forced to put out a blaze in his Jaguar in first practice on Thursday and matters did not improve today, with a similar problem ending his participation in the morning’s second session.

Schumacher also was the class of the field in the first practice session this morning.

He waited until half an hour had passed of the 45-minute session before turning a wheel in anger but made his brief contribution count by immediately going quickest.

He bettered that effort soon after to top the timing sheets with a 1min 15.751s lap, just 0.019s clear of Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Button was fourth-fastest just over half a second slower than Schumacher, while Coulthard was a second down on the German in 10th.

Webber claimed an impressive third-quickest lap as he looked to make up for lost time on Thursday.

Minardi endured a troubled session with Gianmaria Bruni dislodging a wheel after contact with the wall and Zsolt Baumgartner losing his front wing having bounced over a kerb and into the tyres.