Barrichello leads first free practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Rubens Barrichello has made a dream start to his Monaco weekend by setting the fastest lap in FP1. He was three tenths faster than Massa, followed by the two McLarens. Sebastian Vettel meanwhile blew a Renault engine and is 13th.

60 minutes in the session, Barrichello took over the lead with Massa in second place. The Brawn cars had until then been in 4th and 5th position.

Only 2 minutes earlier, Sebastian Vettel's Renault blew up. It's the first failed Renault engine this season and interesting because it will slightly hamper testing for the German with the new diffuser. An engine change will not incur a penalty because of the 8-engine limit for the complete season. That are 7 engines left to play with for Sebastian this year.

With 15 minutes to go Mark Webber also enters the pit again with his Red Bull also in problems apparently. Apparently he went wide in turn 1.

Robert Kubica is on the other hand complaining about his car, noting that "braking is a disaster" and that grip is very poor. The Pole is obviously not in the best car and is currenly positioned 16th.

Surprisingly, both Toyota drivers are far in the back, in 19th and 20th position. Each of them did however complete a vast amount of laps, but none are on the pace. The team might have chosen to run the cars heavy to prepare for the race.

A last minute attempt by Lewis Hamilton did result in a fastest S1 time, probably thanks to his KERS but he didn't get to improve on his 3rd overall time.