Montoya sets early pace

Juan Pablo Montoya set the pace in today’s first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix as McLaren’s strong form continued.

Montoya’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen won two weeks ago in Spain and the Colombian has maintained their improved pace in Monaco, setting the quickest time in first practice yesterday and repeating the feat today.

The McLaren duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya swapped top spot midway through the session but the Finn dropped down the order as the pace increased.

Montoya’s lap time of one minute 16.197 seconds was enough to give him top spot, 0.206seconds faster than Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella, who enjoyed the rare feeling of beating team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The world championship leader finished the session fourth, as Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher claimed third.

World champion Michael Schumacher was fifth, although the Ferrari driver can expect a difficult qualifying session later today when he hits the track early.

Raikkonen ended up sixth with Williams driver Nick Heidfeld seventh despite running wide at turn one early in the session.

David Coulthard had run as high as second at one point this morning but the Red Bull driver slipped to eighth late on.