The largely incident-free session was red flagged with just over nine minutes
to go when Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham blew its engine and filled the
tunnel – the fastest point of the circuit – with smoke.
Kovalainen parked up at the tunnel exit as drivers threaded their way through
the smoke.
With oil also deposited on the track, organisers decided not to re-start the
session.
That left Grosjean’s team mate and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen at the bottom
of the timing screens after the Finn completed an installation lap but
failed to set a time.
He then sat out the rest of the session as mechanics worked on his car.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, surprise winner for Williams at the last race in
Spain but now among the favourites at a track he loves, was again among the
frontrunners with the fifth fastest time.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, under intense pressure to deliver after scoring just
two points in five races, was sixth and 0.578 slower than Alonso.
Red Bull’s double world champion and last year’s winner Sebastian Vettel,
joint championship leader with Alonso, clocked the ninth best time.
Five times Monaco winner and seven times world champion Michael Schumacher
damaged his Mercedes’s front wing when he rode the kerbs at the swimming
pool complex and was 11th fastest.
First Practice: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1min 16.265secs, 2
Romain Grosjean (Swi) Lotus-Renault 1:16.630, 3 Sergio Perez (mex) Sauber
1:16.711, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.747, 5 Pastor
Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Renault 1:16.760, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
1:16.843, 7 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:17.038, 8 Jenson Button (Gbr)
McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.190, 9 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
1:17.222, 10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:17.261, 11 Michael Schumacher
(Ger) Mercedes GP 1:17.413, 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes
1:17.631, 13 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.106, 14 Jean-Eric
Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.209, 15 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro
Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.252, 16 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India-Mercedes
1:18.302, 17 Bruno Senna (Bra)Williams-Renault 1:18.617, 18 Heikki
Kovalainen (Fin)Caterham-Renault 1:19.039, 19 federation Vitaly Petrov
(Rus)Caterham-Renault 1:19.341, 20 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-Cosworth
1:20.838, 21 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia-Cosworth 1:20.895, 22 Timo Glock
(Ger) Marussia-Cosworth 1:21.638, 23 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-Cosworth
1:22.423, 24 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus-Renault no time