The circuit was wet in Monaco for this mornings practice session after early morning rain, with damp patches early on but the circuit would dry out. Several drivers would make contact with the barriers during the course of the session.

But at the end of the session it was Ferrari's Michael Schumacher who would set the fastest time with a lap of 1m:21.094, as he evaluated tyres and set ups for Sunday’s race.

McLaren's David Coulthard was second setting a time just under three tenths slower than Schumacher and completing seventeen laps. Renault's Jarno Trulli also looked impressive in the session setting the third best time, followed by Ferrari number two Rubens Barrichello who improved his time late in the piece and demoted Arrows veteran Heinz-Harald Frentzen to fifth. Frentzen continued to show his good form of late. Next came BAR's Jacques Villeneuve in sixth.

Villeneuve was followed by team-mate Olivier Panis, Jenson Button, and Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn would be one of those drivers who would spin and damaged his McLaren Mercedes against the barriers at Rascasse.

Kimi would say of his accident: “I was on a fast lap when I lost control of the car at La Rascasse. The impact damaged the chassis and I was unable to do any more running today. We will be using my T-car for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately the team brought five cars but my aim is only to use two.”

In eleventh came Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and Toyota's Allan McNish, who did well as he took to the circuit for the first time. Sauber's Felipe Massa was thirteenth  followed by Mika Salo, Mark Webber, Juan-Pablo Montoya, and Takuma Sato.

Sauber’s German driver Nick Heidfeld was eighteenth, followed by Enrique Bernoldi, and Alex Yoong.

Jaguar’s Pedro de la Rosa crashed his R3 near the Swimming Pool section leaving him in 21st, while Jordan’s Giancarlo Fisichella was last having suffered technical problems with his machine.