Narain Karthikeyan struggled on the challenging street circuit of Monaco Grand Prix to finish 21st in both the practice sessions today in which Mclaren's Juan Pablo Montoya and Ranault driver Fernando Alonso dominated respectively.
Karthikeyan, India's rookie F1 driver, clocked 1 hour and 21:879 minutes while his Jordan teammate Tiago Monteiro of Portugal was one place ahead at 1:20.284 in the second session of the day.
The 28-year-old Karthikeyan, who was 1.22.521 in the first practice session, completing 32 laps between the two sessions aheaf of the sixth GP marking the beginning of the European tour.
"On this 15-bends Monaco track drivers are always in alert with over 2000 gear changes on their plate for the Grand Prix," Karthikeyan said.
"On the 3.340 kilometers long circuit, where we will race Sunday for 78 laps, there are several key factor to success in first line the reliability of the machines, the engines and the tires even if unlike other tracks, the speeds are relatively low," he said.
Finally, the driver needs to behave with precision and perfection because the run-off areas are very limited."
Karthikeyan said he experienced a small incident in the morning session when the suspension of his car collapsed.
"The Jordan Grand Prix team used the first part of the afternoon session to fix it successfully and I was able to complete twelve laps in the afternoon session with a time of 1.21.879. Learning is hard and challenging in Monaco!"
Standings after the first free practice:
1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:15.835
2. Alexander Wurz (Austria) McLaren 1:15.912
3. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1:16.184
4. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:16.519
5. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 1:16.534
6. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 1:16.558
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Red Bull 1:16.640
8. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Sauber 1:16.914
9. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1:16.917
10. Ricardo Zonta (Brazil) Toyota 1:17.046
11. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 1:17.170
12. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams 1:17.422
13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:17.487
14. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) Sauber 1:17.506
15. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 1:17.663
16. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Williams 1:17.667
17. Christian Klien (Austria) Red Bull 1:18.815
18. Robert Doornbos (Netherlands) Jordan 1:19.526
19. Patrick Friesacher (Austria) Minardi 1:19.587
20. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) Jordan 1:20.284
21. Narain Karthikeyan (India) Jordan 1:21.879
22. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Minardi 1:22.16
