Veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello clocked the fastest time in Thursday morning's opening free practice for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix
Veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello clocked the fastest time in Thursday morning's opening free practice for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.
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The Brawn GP driver, who will be 37 on Saturday, clocked a best time of one minute 17.189 seconds to finish the 90 minutes session three-tenths of a second clear of his nearest rivals.
It was an excellent riposte to his doubters after the mini-furore following the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this month when speculation suggested that the Latin American may have been thwarted of a victory that went to his team-mate Jenson Button because of a switch of tactics.
Barrichello made it clear that he was not prepared to race in a team where any driver was ordered to favour another and the doubts were cleared after that race following statements by both the driver and his team chief Ross Brawn.
His Brawn team-mate Button wound up down in eighth place as the drivers spent the morning re-acquainting themselves with the most demanding technical circuit on the calendar, the tight and unforgiving barrier-lined street track not allowing any mistakes.
Fellow Brazilian Felipe Massa, who succeeded Barrichello at Ferrari, was second fastest for the Italian team ahead of defending Monaco champion and drivers world champion Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren Mercedes.
Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was fourth ahead of compatriot and former champion Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, a performance that proved the two traditional giants of the sport are back on form, temporarily at least, following revisions to their cars for this race.
Japanese Kazuki Nakajima was sixth for Williams ahead of team-mate German Nico Rosberg, Button, two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault and Australian Mark Webber, who was 10th for Red Bull.
The Red Bull team were running with their new double-diffuser system for the first time and are widely expected to improve as the weekend progresses towards the critical hour of qualifying on Saturday afternoon.
Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine failure that delayed his progress and interrupted the session, creating a dramatic final 10 minutes with most drivers running on soft rubber.
The session was run in warm and sunny conditions with temperatures creeping into the low-twenties Celsius when Barrichello clocked his best lap one hour into the 90 minutes.
There were few other incidents, but several drivers needed to use the escape lane at Ste Devote as they pushed for speed and laid rubber down on the traditionally 'green' and unwelcoming track.
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