In the first free practice session the Sauber F1 Team tested the high downforce package which it brought to Monaco to help the Sauber C30-Ferrari cope with the special requirements of the tight Monaco circuit. It also had its first experience with the super soft Pirelli tyre compound in the second 90 minute session in the afternoon. A suspension development has also been evaluated. After Kamui Kobayashi did a comparison between a non active version of the rear wing and the DRS in the morning session, both cars were equipped with DRS in the afternoon.

Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, who won last year's GP2 feature race in Monaco, both enjoyed a busy and trouble-free first day of practice ahead of the most prestigious Grand Prix of the season.

Sergio Perez: "It was a good day for me. We had a huge programme and have done a lot of work. In the morning session it was a bit difficult with the tyres, because we went out early and then their performance dropped off. In the afternoon I tried the super soft tyres for the first time, and also did a long run on them. I really hope we will be able to do a good qualifying. With the Formula One car it is obviously even more difficult to overtake here in Monaco than it was with a GP2 car."

Kamui Kobayashi: "For me it was a little bit tricky today. My car was bouncing too much, therefore the balance wasn't right either and I didn't have enough grip. We have to find something to get rid of the bouncing. It was so bad that I feel I cannot really make a judgement on the tyre comparison. Regarding the rear wing, I would say it doesn't make much difference in Monaco whether you have DRS or not, except it keeps you busy. Either way overtaking is extremely difficult here."

James Key, Technical Director: "We have had a normal first day of practice here in Monaco. As is usual at the beginning of the Grand Prix weekend, the grip level was very low. In the first session we went out early with both cars to give the drivers a good chance to adapt, but this also meant the tyres were finished quite early. The suspension parts we brought to the car worked as expected. In the afternoon we compared the tyre compounds - the soft and the super soft. We did long runs with both and they are working well. We now have to analyse our data and need to work on our performance on fresh tyres for qualifying, because that is the part which is not quite a hundred per cent."