MONACO (Reuters) – Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso showed his mastery of Monaco on Thursday with the fastest lap in a first free practice session cut short in a cloud of smoke.

The Spaniard, twice a winner in the Mediterranean principality with Renault and McLaren, skimmed the barriers and roared past the moored yachts with a best time of one minute 16.265 seconds.

With the sun shining brightly on the sparkling harbor, Romain Grosjean burnished his hopes of becoming a first French Formula One winner in Monaco since Olivier Panis’s unlikely victory in 1996.

Grosjean’s time for Lotus was the second best, 0.365 seconds off Alonso’s.

“I like Monaco, it’s good fun. The car is going well at the moment so let’s see what we can do later on. It’s important to have a car that you are confident with and work every single details because it makes such a big difference,” said Grosjean.

Mexican Sergio Perez, returning to the scene of his big accident in qualifying last year, clocked the third best time of the morning for Sauber with race favorite Lewis Hamilton fourth for McLaren.

The largely incident-free session was red flagged with just over nine minutes to go when Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham blew its engine and filled the tunnel – the fastest point of the circuit – with smoke.

MONACO, May 24 (Reuters) – Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso showed his mastery of Monaco on Thursday with the fastest lap in a first free practice session cut short in a cloud of smoke.

The Spaniard, twice a winner in the Mediterranean principality with Renault and McLaren, skimmed the barriers and roared past the moored yachts with a best time of one minute 16.265 seconds.

With the sun shining brightly on the sparkling harbour, Romain Grosjean burnished his hopes of becoming a first French Formula One winner in Monaco since Olivier Panis’s unlikely victory in 1996.

Grosjean’s time for Lotus was the second best, 0.365 seconds off Alonso’s.

“I like Monaco, it’s good fun. The car is going well at the moment so let’s see what we can do later on. It’s important to have a car that you are confident with and work every single details because it makes such a big difference,” said Grosjean.

Mexican Sergio Perez, returning to the scene of his big accident in qualifying last year, clocked the third best time of the morning for Sauber with race favourite Lewis Hamilton fourth for McLaren.

The largely incident-free session was red flagged with just over nine minutes to go when Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham blew its engine and filled the tunnel – the fastest point of the circuit – with smoke.

MONACO, May 24 (Reuters) – Mexican Sergio Perez made a fresh start on the streets of Monaco on Thursday, roaring past the scene of a qualifying accident that last year landed the Sauber driver in hospital and out of the race.

Perez was one of the first to test the track in the opening practice session in brilliant sunshine after telling reporters he had a clear mind and was looking forward to racing in the principality.

“To be back here is unbelievable. After such an accident I had last year, it’s really great. I’m very happy to be back, and I’m so looking forward to the race,” said the 22-year-old.

The Mexican missed what would have been his first Monaco Grand Prix and the following race in Canada as he battled with lingering concussion.

He was not fully recovered for some races after that but has made a great start to 2012, finishing runner-up in Malaysia in March. He is currently 10th overall in the Formula One standings with 22 points.

“It’s my favourite track. I always believe a driver can make a difference here, and hopefully it will be the perfect weekend for us,” Perez said of Monaco, the slowest circuit on the calendar but a thrill for drivers and spectators alike with the cars skimming the metal barriers and roaring past the yachts bobbing in the harbour.

“I will never forget the accident, but I will try to go as quick as possible,” added the Mexican, who was unconscious for several minutes after his car slammed into barriers at the tunnel exit last May.

MONACO (Reuters) – McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are living the Monaco dream after swapping Swiss isolation and Guernsey rain for Mediterranean sunshine.

Sunday’s grand prix in the tiny principality will be a ‘home’ race for both Britons for the first time after recent moves and both said they were feeling the benefits of their relocation.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion and favorite for the glamour race, moved to Monaco this year after leaving Britain for Geneva and then Zurich for reasons of both personal privacy and tax.

He said that while Switzerland had been one of the most beautiful countries he had ever been to, it was just too quiet for a 27-year-old like him.

“It took ages to go out to a restaurant,” he said.

“Here it’s sunny every day which makes a big difference, there are great restaurants a couple of minutes from where I live, there’s a gym where I live, there’s a pool… before I used to have to drive half an hour to get to the gym.”

Sounding more like a star-struck rookie than a champion and winner of 17 races, Hamilton continued: “Since I’ve been here I’ve been much happier. Every day I go running the track, I run around the track almost every day and it’s incredible to run around your favorite circuit every day.

MONACO, May 23 (Reuters) – McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are living the Monaco dream after swapping Swiss isolation and Guernsey rain for Mediterranean sunshine.

Sunday’s grand prix in the tiny principality will be a ‘home’ race for both Britons for the first time after recent moves and both said they were feeling the benefits of their relocation.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion and favourite for the glamour race, moved to Monaco this year after leaving Britain for Geneva and then Zurich for reasons of both personal privacy and tax.

He said that while Switzerland had been one of the most beautiful countries he had ever been to, it was just too quiet for a 27-year-old like him.

“It took ages to go out to a restaurant,” he said.

“Here it’s sunny every day which makes a big difference, there are great restaurants a couple of minutes from where I live, there’s a gym where I live, there’s a pool… before I used to have to drive half an hour to get to the gym.”

Sounding more like a star-struck rookie than a champion and winner of 17 races, Hamilton continued: “Since I’ve been here I’ve been much happier. Every day I go running the track, I run around the track almost every day and it’s incredible to run around your favourite circuit every day.

MONACO (Reuters) – The future face of Formula One should be decided in the next few months with the sport’s governing body yet to play what could be a key hand, Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said on Wednesday.

The immediate spotlight has been on plans for the flotation of Formula One, with an announcement this week that three investment firms have bought a 21 percent stake in the sport from private equity firm CVC Capital.

The flotation is expected to be completed in Singapore next month.

Formula One, run by 81-year-old Briton Bernie Ecclestone, secured the commercial rights of the sport in a 100-year deal agreed with the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) in 2001.

That deal also contained a so-called ‘Don King clause’, named after the controversial boxing promoter, that allows the Paris-based FIA to bar from taking over the business anyone they consider undesirable.

Glamour team Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have been offered places on the future board of Formula One but not, according to sources, Mercedes.

The current ‘Concorde Agreement’, a confidential document governing the sport and signed by teams, commercial rights holder and FIA, expires at the end of the year with Mercedes the only top team yet to agree an extension.

MONACO, May 23 (Reuters) – The future face of Formula One should be decided in the next few months with the sport’s governing body yet to play what could be a key hand, Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said on Wednesday.

The immediate spotlight has been on plans for the flotation of Formula One, with an announcement this week that three investment firms have bought a 21 percent stake in the sport from private equity firm CVC Capital.

The flotation is expected to be completed in Singapore next month.

Formula One, run by 81-year-old Briton Bernie Ecclestone, secured the commercial rights of the sport in a 100-year deal agreed with the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) in 2001.

That deal also contained a so-called ‘Don King clause’, named after the controversial boxing promoter, that allows the Paris-based FIA to bar from taking over the business anyone they consider undesirable.

Glamour team Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have been offered places on the future board of Formula One but not, according to sources, Mercedes.

The current ‘Concorde Agreement’, a confidential document governing the sport and signed by teams, commercial rights holder and FIA, expires at the end of the year with Mercedes the only top team yet to agree an extension.

MONACO (Reuters) – Formula One teams and circuits will change safety procedures to make sure a fire like the one that devastated the Williams garage at the Spanish Grand Prix 10 days ago does not happen again.

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan told reporters at the Monaco Grand Prix that the Circuit de Catalunya blaze, that broke out as the team celebrated a first win in nearly eight years, destroyed 90 percent of their garage infrastructure.

He said one team employee was still being treated for burns in hospital in Britain and was likely to stay there for another 10 days.

Personnel from other teams in the pitlane helped to fight the fire and there was some criticism afterwards of the seemingly slow response time of the Barcelona circuit’s emergency services.

Gillan said he attended the governing FIA’s technical working group meeting on the following Friday to analyze the chain of events after the fire broke out in the team’s fuel handling area.

Although the exact cause was not known, they agreed measures needed to be revised.

“There will definitely be a change to circuit procedures,” he said. “We have all agreed a certain level of cover at a circuit and that level of cover was in place (in Spain).