Fastest lap at the 1st Thursday Practice in 2000 - Michael Schumacher  - 1:23.039

Monaco GP - 1st Thursday Practice

Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli. Heinz Harald Frentzen, Rubens Barrichello and Mika Hakkinen make the top 6.

60 min: Michael Schumacher improves again on his final lap with a time of 1:21.577 

60 min: Michael Schumacher improves and sets a time of 1:21.741. He is now 0.663 seconds faster than Coulthard. 

59 min: David Coulthard moves ahead of Jarno Trulli and is just 0.1 seconds behind Michael. Michael is on the track to respond in the final minute! 

58 min: Heidfeld improves to 11th just behind his team-mate. 

57 min: Kimi Raikkonen in 10th place has covered 20 laps. He too is learning the circuit.

56 min: David Coulthard improves but remains in 3rd place behind Michael Schumacher and Jarno Trulli.

55 min: Juan Pablo Montoya seems to be struggling here. He has done 12 laps and is in 12th place 3.5 seconds off the pace. This is his first time here in a Formula 1 car though.

54 min: Both Fisichella and Button finally set their first time for the day. Fisichella is straight in 13th place on his first timed lap. Button is 17th.

53 min: David Coulthard moves into 3rd with an equally impressive time of 1:22.947.

52 min: Jarno Trulli jumps into 2nd place with a time of 1:22.667. Stunning!

51 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Barrichello, Alesi, Hakkinen, Trulli, Frentzen, Irvine, Villeneuve and Raikkonen.

50 min: Michael Schumacher responds to those getting close to him by setting a stunning time of 1:22.300.

49 min: Rubens Barrichello jumps into 3rd after struggling with his car for most of the session.

48 min: The Benetton drivers have yet to go out on the track!

47 min: Jean Alesi continues to impress as he is now third fastest.

46 min: Michael Schumacher is back on the track. Villeneuve improves to 7th with a time of 1:24.918

45 min: 15 minutes remaining in the session and the Schumacher brothers lead the way here from Hakkinen, Trulli, Frentzen and Alesi.

44 min: Luciano Burti has covered the most number of laps with 17. He is learning the track.

43 min: Jarno Trulli moves into 4th place ahead of his team-mate.

42 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Hakkinen, Frentzen, Alesi, Irvine, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Trulli and Barrichello.

41 min: Tarso Marques crashes into the wall! - session or perhaps day over for him!.

40 min: Ralf Schumacher improves again to under 0.5 seconds behind his brother.

39 min: Mika Hakkinen moves to 3rd with a time of 1:24.521.

38 min: Ralf Schumacher closes the gap to his brother. It is now down to 1.1 seconds!

37 min: Jean Alesi is also very impressive. Who would even think that a Prost could be in 3rd!

36 min: Until now, it is Michael Schumacher who is most impressive over 1.6 seconds faster than anyone else.

35 min: Eddie Irvine improves to 5th place while Frentzen and Barrichello are now in 8th and 9th!

34 min: Olivier Panis improves to 6th with a time of 1:25.559.

33 min: Neither of the Benetton drivers have gone out yet!

32 min: Mika Hakkinen moves into 4th place with a time of 1:25.119. That is 1.88 seconds slower than Schumacher's pace.

31 min: Michael Schumacher improves yet again with a time of 1:23.239. Rubens Barrichello is 17th at this stage!

30 min: Mika Hakkinen has done a number of laps but has yet to set a competitive time.

29 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Alesi, Coulthard, Frentzen, Raikkonen, Panis, Villeneuve, Verstappen and de la Rosa.

28 min: Michael Schumacher improves further and sets a time of 1:23.721. He is now over a second faster than Ralf in second place.

27 min: Michael Schumacher takes the lead with a time of 1:24.276. That is over half a second faster than his brother!

26 min: Jean Alesi moves into 2nd place still over a second slower than Ralf Schumacher.

25 min: Pedro de la Rosa crashes his Jaguar. He is OK but his session is over!

24 min: Ralf Schumacher goes fastest again with a time of 1:24.864. That is over a second faster than anyone else.

23 min: Ralf Schumacher's time is 1:25.636 while Frentzen in second is 1:26.192.

22 min: Top 10 - R Schumacher, Frentzen, Raikkonen, Panis, Villeneuve, Irvine, Montoya, Alesi, Verstappen, de la Rosa.

21 min: Ralf Schumacher takes the top spot but Frentzen takes it from him straight away. The lap times are now dropping fast.

20 min: Olivier Panis goes quickest with a time of 1:26.970.

19 min: Rubens Barrichello goes out on the track for the first time.

18 min: Jacques Villeneuve responds by going fastest with a time of 1:27.054.

17 min: Juan Pablo Montoya moves into 2nd with a time of 1:27.399.

16 min: Top 10 - Irvine, Villeneuve, Alesi, de la Rosa, Montoya, Alonso, Verstappen, Marques, Burti and Frentzen.

15 min: Eddie Irvine improves to 1:27.336.

14 min: Jacques Villeneuve goes third with a time of 1:29.646.

13 min: Jean Alesi sets a time of 1:27.860 and moves into 2nd place. 

12 min: Bernoldi's car is stuck in the pitlane blocking a number of cars behind him! 

11 min: Juan Pablo Montoya goes out on the track as Pedro de la Rosa sets a time of 1:38.432. 

10 min: Eddie Irvine improves to 1:27.593 

9 min: The second Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa also goes out on the track. 

8 min: Eddie Irvine sets the first timed lap of the session with a time of 1:34.129. Alonso, Alesi and Burti join in. 

7 min: Eddie Irvine is on a timed lap. 

6 min: Nick Heidfeld goes out again after his stall in the pitlane. Launch Control problems perhaps ?

5 min: Mika Hakkinen's installation lap was pretty slow but he is back in the pits now.

4 min: Tarso Marques is out on the track for his first timed lap. Neither Ferrari has gone out at all yet.

3 min: The Arrows team seem to be experimenting with a small wing mounted on the nose!

2 min: The cars start streaming back into the pits.

1 min: Panis is the first man out and is followed by a number of cars. Heidfeld stalls at the exit of the pit lane!

Session start: The drivers go out of the tight pit lane exit on their installation lap.

The action is about to start on the streets of Monaco. The drivers are getting ready to go out on their installation lap in a couple of minutes.

The fight at the top will again be between Ferrari, McLaren and possibly Williams if Michelin have built suitable tyres. The teams behind though might not be to far. Jordan and Sauber in particular could surprise us. Even Benetton could do relatively well here. Session starting in 5 minutes

The lap times here should improve significantly as the tyre compounds are softer providing more grip and the re-introduction of traction control should help here as there are a number of very slow corners where traction control does make a difference. Session starting in 10 minutes

This is the shortest and slowest circuit on the calendar. It is a circuit that doesn't allow for mistakes. It will be interesting to see how the new drivers do here. Session starting in 15 minutes

Session starting at 11:00 AM local time. That is 9:00 AM GMT, click here for the local time in Monaco now.
Weather forecast is for mostly cloudy skies and a temperature of 21 degrees.