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Journalism of Courage
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Renault’s championship leader Fernando Alonso looked every bit the Monaco Grand Prix favourite with the fastest lap in Thursday’s practice. The Spaniard, who will be chasing his fourth win in six races on Sunday, powered round the tight street circuit in one minute 15.835 seconds to top the timesheets ahead of McLaren test driver Alex Wurz.
Briton David Coulthard, twice a winner in the Mediterranean principality for McLaren, was third for Red Bull ahead of Alonso’s Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. “The car feels consistent on the longer runs, so things are going perfectly at the moment,” said Alonso. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, a winner for Williams in 2003, had been quickest in the morning session for McLaren in 1:17.152.
Alonso was second fastest in that hour-long stint, losing out by 0.149 of a second after leading until the final seconds on a warm and bright morning.
Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher managed the fourth best lap in the morning but only the 11th fastest in the afternoon after being sidelined by a mystery vibration.
Narain Karthikeyan struggled to finish 21st in both the practice sessions, clocking 1 hour and 21:879 minutes while his Jordan teammate Tiago Monteiro of Portugal was one place ahead at 1:20.284 in the second session of the day.
— Agencies
