Fernando Alonso took a liking to the Pirelli supersoft tyres by posting the quickest time in yesterday’s second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton just behind him.

Alonso had been second behind defending F1 champion Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull in the first practice, but the Ferrari driver shaved more than a second off his morning session time as drivers tried the supersoft optional tyres under a hot afternoon sun. Vettel finished the afternoon run in fifth.

Alonso had a best lap of 1 minute, 15.123 seconds, compared to his morning mark of 1:16.732 on the prime soft tyres.

“It seems we are a bit more competitive than elsewhere this season, although one has to adopt the usual caution linked to the unknown factor of how much fuel the others were running,” Alonso said. “I immediately felt comfortable here, right from the morning, so I was able to push harder and harder.”

Hamilton clocked 1:15.228 in his McLaren, and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was again third in 1:15.321.

Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button was fourth in 1:15.448 ahead of Vettel, whose best was 1:15.667 compared to 1:16.619 on primes in the morning. Vettel completed 46 laps, more than most in the second session.

Alonso’s form will give the struggling Ferrari team confidence it can challenge the dominant Red Bulls in tomorrow’s qualifying, although he thinks Red Bull may have something in reserve.

“I am pleased, but we know this is just the first day and that the Red Bulls could be hiding a bit,” Alonso said. “Tomorrow will be a much more stressful day because the slightest error carries a heavy penalty. We must try to take some risks, because we need to close the gap.”

Alonso is already 67 points behind Vettel. The Spaniard needs to show similar form in qualifying to assure a good spot on the grid to challenge Vettel early in the race.

Red Bull has started from pole position in every race so far, and Vettel has won four of the opening five, with Alonso giving Ferrari its sole podium place when he finished third in Turkey.

Alonso had come close to beating Vettel in the morning, too, and he carried that confidence over by setting the pace early in his afternoon run. But he had a near miss when he almost hit the back of teammate Felipe Massa’s car.

Massa finished sixth fastest in a haphazard performance which saw the Brazilian twice narrowly avoid slamming into the barriers.