Felipe Massa in Ferrari was the fastest man on the track in the first practice session in France. Hamilton, Kovalainen and Raikkonen lined up about 7 tenths behind him. Hamilton locked up few times, Kovalainen had nice wide trip over the gravel, Alonso’s engine blew up, Trulli showed us quite nice spin, Kubica was suffering from tyre graining…

The off track excursions continued in practice two. Hamilton, Trulli, Massa, Sutil, Piquet all went out to check out the gravel. Both Ferraris kept ahead of Hamilton in practice 2 but the fastest time and home glory for Renault went to Alonso. Sebastian Vettel finished the session at impressive 5th place. Kubica came 6th, just ahead of the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.

Practice 1 Times:

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F1Wolf

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No rain today but still it was an eventful practice session this morning in Montreal. That was after rather quiet first fifteen minutes. After that all the teams tried to make up for the time they lost while the track was wet on Friday morning. Some were trying too hard, 2 cars hit the wall - Bourdais and Vettel, Nelson Piquet skilfully parked it right next to the wall. Vettel did enough damage to his car to miss the qualifying … Bourdais damaged his gearbox and got himself 5 place grid penalty for Sunday race. For the record Nico Rosberg was the fastest man on track in the morning session.

Morning practice suggested that perhaps we could see some surprise from Toro Rosso in qualifying. Vettel however was not able to take part in qualifying and the best Bourdais could manage was 16th just behind 15th Nelson Piquet. Jenson Button did not make it to Q2 for the first time this season after what looked like some mechanical problems. The other 2 looser spots went as usual to Force India cars.

It was much more exciting in Q2. Both Timo Glock and Kazuki Nakajima were getting very close to Q3 but at the end the only unusual name in top 10 was Rubens Barrichello. Mark Webber was very impressive, finished Q2 in 5th place but unfortunately spun off on the way back to pits and was not able to take part in Q3. Already in Q2 the track was visibly deteriorating and drivers were not able to match their Q1 times. The track conditions only got worse in Q3 and so the final session turned into sort of a gamble. Lewis Hamilton occupied the top spot for most of the time. Kimi Raikkonen was able to go faster in sectors 1 and 2 but not in the sector 3. Only Robert Kubica managed to claim the pole position for a while but Hamilton reclaimed it back on his final run. Renault must be excited with Alonso on P4, Williams should be very happy with P5 for Rosberg. Barrichello only made one run, probably choosing to save up fuel for the race.

The drivers seems to be attracted to the walls and I would be surprised if we have no safety car out tomorrow. If that happens, anything can happen …

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F1Wolf

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Interesting day one in Montreal. Felipe Massa was fastest in the wet / dry first practice but retired with mechanical problems before the end of practice two. Lewis Hamilton was the quickest driver on the track in the second practice ahead of impressive Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen.

Fernando Alonso (spun off) and Timo Glock (touched a wall a bit too much) had also their practice two cut short.

Although it is difficult to make anything out of the Friday times, it does look like we have three way battle (Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber) on cards in Montreal… Elsewhere Toro Rosso had a good day, Honda had not … More photos and some sounds from Friday in Montreal coming a bit later tonite … (Friday times inside the post)

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F1Wolf

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Welcome to the live blog covering the final practice session in Monaco. Join the debete and enjoy !

This live blog has now finished. You can replay it inside this post. Join us again for qualifying session.

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F1Wolf

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The F1 weekend of glamour has began in Monaco with free practice. Kimi Raikkonen was the quickest driver in practice one ahed of two McLarens and Felipe Massa. The session was stopped for about 15 minutes thanks to a loose drain. The honours for being the first driver to touch the barriers and break the car in Monaco this year go to Jarno Trulli. Technical problems stopped David Coulthard and Nick Heidfeld. Not sure what problems Nelson Piquet had, but being 1 and half second slower tahn his team mate is not going to help his case (unless he was on different test program than Alonso).

The order at the top changed in the second practice. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver ahead of Nico Rosberg in Williams, both Ferraris and Heikki Kovalainen. The rest of the field seems to be a bit off the pace so far.

Piquet, Alonso, Trulli (again) and Sutil had encounters with barriers in this session.

Toro Rosso drivers are clearly still learning what to do with the new STR03 …

Monaco Thursday Practice 1 Times:

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F1Wolf

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The track was officially wet but looked quite dry except few wet patches. Mark Webber finished the session at the top ahead of Alonso and Coulthard. The top 16 were separated only by 1 second. The qualifying later today should be exciting. And … there is a possibility of rain …

Saturday Free Practice Times:

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F1Wolf

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I managed to see bits and pieces of the first practice. It started with wet track between turns 3 and 9 due to late cleaning . It continued with cars sliding all over the place (and not because of the late cleaning). Felipe Massa was the fastest driver of the session but he also managed to get off the track more than once (I saw twice). He needs to make friends with Turn 8 . Not sure what happened to Kimi, he did one timed lap and ended up at the tail of the order. But if the weekend continues the way it has begun, we may see some interesting action on th track. Not the best show from the Red Bull family …

Kimi Raikkonen recovered from the gearbox problems and recorded the fastest time in second practice just ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Rain affected early stages of the session only but the track seemed quite damp till the end. Cars however spent the whole session on dry tyres, at least as far as I could tell. There was not much grip and the off-track trips continued in second session too. Mark Webber crashed his car, few drivers lost the rears of their cars. How I wish there is about this much for qualifying and the race .

To follow the practice, qualifying and race live, check this link for info.

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F1Wolf

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Live Blog is back for the final free practice of Spanish F1 GP. Join the live debate !

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F1Wolf

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Nico Rosberg in Williams confirmed a good form this weekend in the final practice for Bahrain GP. He finished the session 2 tenths ahead of Massa and Webber. It was quiet session for Ferrari, each driver barely managed 3 timed laps… Massa lead the timesheets since his first timed lap. Towards the end however many drivers embarked on quick low fuel runs and the table below is the result. As it is becoming a habit this season, McLarens did not show much pace in P3.:

Saturday Free Practice Times:

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F1Wolf

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Follow the updates from the Third Free Practice session and join the brain behind the liveblogs, Keith from F1Fanatic, the moderators - Duncan from doctorvee, Ollie from BlogF1, John from F1-Pitlane, Arun, Journeyer and F1Wolf - and and big bunch of others in the discussion !

The Live Blog has now closed, you can replay the discussion and comments on this practice session inside the post. Next live blog will be from Bahrain Qualifying.

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F1Wolf

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