Shortly before the initial Friday practice session in warm and humid Abu Dhabi, it rained quite heavily.

To the surprise of many in the paddock, within sight of the huge and sandy Abu Dhabi desert, spray was streaming from the rear of the cars during the Porsche support race at Yas Marina.

“Is it my sleepy eyes or is it raining?” quipped Karun Chandhok on Twitter.

The shower, which began with light rain, eventually passed but the track is likely to still be damp for the beginning of the 90-minute practice session at 1pm local.

Local reports say more scattered showers are possible over the next 48 hours, and the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology confirmed the cloudy forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Heikki Kovalainen arrived in Valencia on Friday with just hours to spare before morning practice.

We reported on Thursday that the Finn had been absent in the paddock on Thursday, with his team Lotus staging a pitlane photoshoot for the marque’s 500th race without him.

Like many figures in the world of formula one, he was held up on the way to the Spanish port city by air traffic controller strikes in France.

Kovalainen had sat at Geneva airport for many hours waiting for his flight delay to end, before deciding to commence the 1,200km trip by road.

Before outpacing his teammate Jarno Trulli in both 90 minute practice sessions, he confirmed he had arrived in Valencia shortly after 5am.

And before donning his green overalls, his first duty was a “few hours sleep”, but still looked tired when he pulled on his balaclava at 10am.

“I feel fine,” he insisted.  “It’s just one night with a little less sleep than usual, so it’s no big deal.  My physio Petri and I shared the driving, so I feel absolutely fine.”

(GMM)

Red Bull dominated the Spanish grand prix less than four days ago, but 600 kilometres down the road, the situation looks different in Monaco.

The average laptime gap between the RB6 and its rivals looked insurmountable at the Circuit de Catalunya.

But between the walls of the fabled Monte Carlo street layout, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was quickest in both of Thursday’s 90 minute practice sessions.

Red Bull is, however, within shouting distance of the pace, indicating that the Milton Keynes based team has made progress on tighter circuits since 2009.

“It will be tighter here than it was in Spain, it’s a special track — we know that,” said runaway Barcelona winner Mark Webber.

Red Bull has snatched pole at each race weekend so far in 2010, but the Australian said: “Saturday will be an exciting qualifying session for definite.”

(GMM)

Although the McLarens were quickest in the morning, both RB6s were able to speed up to the tune of a full second per lap when the final 90-minute practice session was held in the afternoon.

Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher came closest to the Red Bulls in that session at the cool Circuit de Catalunya, but still lagging Sebastian Vettel’s pace by a whopping eight tenths.

“It does seems that maybe one team is to be very, very quick at the moment,” said McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, fifth.

His teammate Jenson Button agreed: “It’s horrible to say it, but I think Red Bull are untouchable this weekend.”

Mark Webber, two tenths slower than Vettel in the afternoon but still much quicker than anyone else, told reporters he thinks McLaren “probably weren’t showing everything today”.

But Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who like Schumacher was right on the non-Red Bull pace on Friday, disagreed.

“Red Bull were very, very quick in second practice and it will be very difficult for all of us to arrive to those times,” the Spaniard said.