The first day of running for the Monaco Grand Prix saw McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso make the best use of his Bridgestone Potenza's to top both practice sessions at the fabulous Monte Carlo street circuit.

Alonso put in a 1min 16.973secs in the morning session and a 1min 15.940secs in the afternoon as running took place under fabulous blue skies in the millionaires' playground. The morning saw Alonso's team-mate Lewis Hamilton second fastest and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) third quickest, whilst the afternoon saw Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Hamilton go second and third.

It was the first day of a race weekend where Bridgestone's super soft compound has been used following on from the successful test with the compound at Paul Ricard last week. The soft compound was used earlier in the year at the Australian Grand Prix. There will be no Formula One running on Friday, but cars will return to the track on Saturday with the third free practice and qualifying sessions.

Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations said: "This was the first time we have used the super soft compound Bridgestone Potenza at a race weekend and it provided a faster lap time than the soft compound but with increased graining. It was the first day of running here so there will be track surface improvements, but for many teams the super soft is a challenge to find the correct setup. The soft compound showed mild graining on either the front or the rear depending on the cars' setups. It was difficult to judge exactly what the difference in terms of lap times is between the two tyres but it seems to be somewhere between a second and half a second depending on the cars and traffic encountered."