Good morning everyone and welcome to live text commentary as Formula One comes to Monaco.

10-lap run for Schumacher there. The back end of his car stepped out once or twice, but the pace looked pretty sharp.

The jumps in time keep coming. Massa fourth, Alonso sixth, Webber seventh. The Mercedes pair and Grosjean have come into the pits, too..

The Mercedes are getting quicker - Schumacher up to second place, Rosberg into third. Alonso and Webber both post middling laps, but more meaningful times should appear as the tyres warm up.

Mind you, no sooner do I type that than Felipe Massa is on the radio complaining of understeer.

Alonso is now out on track, however, and it will be interesting to see whether he can sustain the improved performance from Spain. That looked to be a big step forward for Ferrari.

Top 10 at halfway: Grosjean, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Maldonado, Vergne, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Massa, Rosberg, Kovalainen - still no times from Red Bull, Ferrari or McLaren.

Yellow flag - Karthikeyan has outbreaked himself and has to park up on the escape road just before the Mirabeau. It's lifted almost as soon as it is raised, though.

Make that third for Maldonado - and Grosjean keeps improving, now down to a 1:17.1.

Maldonado could be a strong contender this weekend if the Williams package is right - he's twice won this race at GP2 level. Currently fifth on the timesheets.

The times are coming down apace now - 1:17.645 from Grosjean. Still no signs of the Red Bulls, Ferraris or McLarens.

The Toro Rossos hit the pits after a 20-minute stint. Schumacher posts a 1:18.654 to go fastest.

Grosjean improves, setting the fastest lap so far this morning - a 1:18.820. And he's quicker again into the first sector...

Grosjean supplants Schumacher, but we are treated to a replay of the Frenchman very nearly losing the back end of his Lotus and putting it into the wall. Yeesh, that was close.

Schumacher posts the third-quickest time of the morning so far - but you can be fairly certain that will come down as his tyres warm up.

Vergne's 1:19.086 is the new fastest time of the session. The soft tyres show no sign of going off - and that's as expected.

Maldonado goes straight on, missing the chicane after the tunnel. He's got the car under enough control to let the Lotus get round before rejoining the track.

Grosjean is also out for Lotus - and things are just starting to get a little bit busier.

Here comes Bruno Senna - he has often missed this session so that test driver Bottas can get an outing in the Williams - but not today. Senna has not been best pleased to miss out, so it's a good opportunity for the Brazilian.

Vergne now takes his best time into the 1:19s - a 1:19.788. That's about seven straight laps with improvements lap by lap.

Ricciardo is told by his team to disable DRS for a couple of laps so they can see what difference it is making to him on track.

So much for the big rush to get out and put some laps down - it's just the Toro Rossos and Karthikeyan who are out on track.