Hamilton suffers smash
Lewis Hamilton suffered his first crash of a grand prix weekend as the young Briton slammed into Monte Carlo's tyre barriers.
The young Brit's run of good fortune in his debut season ended as the starter-motor on his McLaren failed in the morning practice session before his accident in the afternoon.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets in both sessions, clocking a best time of one minute 15.940 seconds.
The rest day on Friday, unique in the Formula One calendar, will at least allow the McLaren mechanics ample time to make the car as good as new in preparation for Saturday's qualifying session.
Sainte Devote also caught out Anthony Davidson as he spun in his Super Aguri and nudged the tyre wall prior to Hamilton's shunt.
Although his incident lacked the impact of Hamilton's, it was enough to bring his session to an end, resulting in 19th place for the 28-year-old.
David Coulthard recovered from a spin through Loews hairpin early on that led to his Red Bull Racing car requiring a new rear wing to take 10th place.
Out in front, though, it was Alonso continuing his so-far perfect start to the weekend.
The reigning world champion finished over six tenths of a second clear of Hamilton in the morning run, while in the afternoon he was almost three tenths ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton had to settle for third, completing only 19 laps in the second stint, and just 33 overall for the day - in contrast to many of his rivals who topped 60 plus.
