Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso laid down an early marker in Monaco by setting the fastest time during Thursday’s first practice session.
The two-time Monaco winner set a time of one minute 15:927 seconds, 0.073secs ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Renault’s Robert Kubica was third, with Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber fourth.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was fifth, just ahead of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes with McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button seventh and eighth.
Adrian Sutil’s Force India and Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso rounded out a top 10 separated by less then a second.
While the impressive pace of the Red Bull cars has dominated qualifying this season, Monaco’s tight street circuit presents a different challenge.
Both Vettel and Webber were out-done by Alonso, who pushed his F10 from the off.
In his first run he was close to touching the barriers with his rear tyre coming out of Anthony Noghes – the final corner of the circuit and briefly returned to the garage for work on minor damage to his front wing.
But he returned to post a series of increasingly quick laps, improving an initial time of 1:16:859 to 1:15:927.
Alonso’s team-mate Massa, who started the season well with two podium finishes but has tailed off somewhat since, briefly held the fastest lap time after the early stages had been dominated by McLaren pair Button and Hamilton.
Hamilton – champion in 2008 – exchanged fastest lap times with the Brazilian three times before Kubica briefly took the lead with just under half an hour remaining.
Button had been one of a number of drivers who had voiced concern in the build-up over the potential problems that may arise from the pace differential between the teams.
The reigning champion encountered traffic on his first attempt at a flying lap, passing Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi on his way into the chicane.
With Schumacher having posted his own fastest lap to propel himself into the top 10, a yellow flag prompted by Kamui Kobayashi’s BMW Sauber denied drivers the chance to improve on thei times.
The Japanese driver lost his front wing after bouncing over the kerbs in the fast Swimming Pool chicane and smashing into the barriers on the outside of the track.
In an earlier incident, Hispania’s Karun Chandhok lost the back end of his car at Massenet but only brushed the barrier during the resultant spin, thus minimising the damage.
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