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Renault Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain - Source: Reuters -
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Spaniard Fernando Alonso cheered up a sparse home crowd with the
fastest time in practice for the European Grand Prix.
Renault's double world champion lapped the Mediterranean port's
street circuit with a quickest time of one minute 39.404 seconds,
despite an earlier collision with BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.
Brawn GP's Formula One championship leader Jenson Button was second
fastest, 0.774 slower than the Spaniard, with Brazilian team mate
Rubens Barrichello third.
Barrichello had set the pace in the morning with a time of
1:42.460.
In what would have been a nightmare for local organisers, Alonso
had until Monday been in danger of missing Sunday's race after his
team were handed a one-race ban in Hungary last month.
That suspension was overturned at an appeal hearing.
The Spaniard said the broadside collision with Heidfeld, that
lifted and almost rolled the BMW, was just a normal incident but
the German did not see it that way and described Alonso's behaviour
as stupid.
Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer completed 62 laps, more than a race
distance, in the two sessions but collected three fines totalling
5,400 euros ($11,344) and a reprimand for speeding in the pit
lane.
Schumacher watching
The 38-year-old Italian, preparing for his first start in a decade
after Brazilian Felipe Massa was seriously injured in Hungary, was
more than a second slower than everyone else in the opening
session.
However, with retired seven-times champion Michael Schumacher
watching from the pit wall, he lifted himself off the bottom in the
afternoon to end up 18th and ahead of McLaren's world champion
Lewis Hamilton.
Schumacher, who retired in 2006 and is now 40 years old, would have
taken Massa's place but the German had to abort his planned
comeback due to a neck injury suffered in a bike crash earlier in
the year.
Hamilton had been third in the morning but hit the wall after lunch
and was then sidelined by a lack of fresh parts.
"I touched the wall, but didn't even really feel the impact," he
said.
"I only grazed the front wing but, unfortunately, it couldn't be
repaired as we didn't have a spare."
Button's time sent a clear indication that his Mercedes-powered
team have got to the bottom of the problems that kept him off the
podium for the past three races.
The Briton, who leads Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber by a
comfortable 18.5 points after winning six of the first seven races
of the year, was quickest for much of the opening session.
"It's encouraging to see that the car seems to be on the pace
again," he said.
France's Romain Grosjean made an assured debut after replacing
Brazilian Nelson Piquet at Renault, lapping 17th and 13th fastest
respectively.
Spanish rookie Jaime Alguersuari also put on a good show for the
locals, although the grandstands looked very empty, with the 13th
best time for Toro Rosso in the morning.
