Length: 3.340 km
Number of Laps: 78 (260.520 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'14''439 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: J. Tarno - 1'13''985 (2004, Renault)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'16''281 (Renault)
2005 Podium: K. Raikkonen - N. Heidfeld - M. Webber

Alonso’s time of 1:13.823, the only one beneath the 1:14 barrier, eclipsed that of second placed man Michael Schumacher by only two tenths of a second, and behind these two an equally fraught battle was fought all session.

Giancarlo Fisichella, in the second Renault R26, took the fight to the Ferrari with a time a mere few thousandths away from Michael and the rest were, effectively, left standing in the wake of this trio.

The appearance of David Coulthard in the Red Bull in a fine fourth place will surely have the FIA scouring the rule books for anything precluding the use of Kryptonite in Formula One, the ‘Superman’ branded car looking on the pace all session, and easily out-running some more heavily-fancied runners. Christian Klien, in the second car, had a less easy session, finishing in 12th place but within a second of Coulthards time.

In fifth and seventh place were Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber, the two Williams looking well-suited to the twists and turns of the Monaco streets, sandwiching the quickest Mclaren, that of Juan Pablo Montoya, with a mere two tenths between the three of them. Kimi Raikkonen gave everything he had, but returned in tenth place, three tenths away from Montoya who has, it must be said, looked the quicker of the two silver clad runners all weekend.

Felipe Massa ran to eighth, the Ferrari number two almost a second away from Schumacher despite some very impressive sector times, while disappointment must prevail at Honda, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in ninth and 11th, both over a second off the ultimate pace.

BMW-Sauber look to be struggling for outright speed, both Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve, 13th and 18th respectively, easily two seconds away from the front running pace, but the MF1 racing boys should be pleased with what is a definite improvement on recent outings.

Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers took 14th and 15th positions and, remarkably, out-paced the ‘works’ Toyota cars easily. In fact, Toyota, with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, 19th and 21st, struggled to out-pace the Super Aguri cars, something that will inspire yet more head scratching back home in Cologne as the team (and the F1 world, to be honest) continue to wonder what on earth is going on.

Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed showed no signs of the much-vaunted ‘V10 advantage’ and finished in 16th and 17th, with Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny 20th and 22nd for the Aguri team.

This was a busy session, with all bar one car taking to the circuit in the dying minutes for a final run, a fact that may have precluded some runners from showing their true pace at the end of the session, but their can be no doubt that the men to beat, in what must surely be the most interesting qualifying session of the season so far, are Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.