German GP: Second practice report

By Huw Alban
July 28 2006

Markus Winkelhock did the business for Midland F1 Racing towards the end of the second free practice session this afternoon, posting the 14th fastest time out of 28 drivers. Very nice!

Fans were gutted to read that Christijan Albers had experienced what looked like a complete engine failure at the end of the first free practice session two hours ago, however Albers was the second driver to take to the track at the start of the second session. This means that either the engine has been replaced or repaired by the team. The Dutchman's first lap was only an installation, suggesting that it was a replacement.

A quick call to the Midland F1 pit garage at Hockenheim confirmed that the Toyota engine had been replaced.

At the start of this session the text "The track has been declared wet for this session" appeared on the live timing screen, and for the first 15 minutes no one seemed particularly keen to go out and set a time - presumably because the teams are not expecting a wet qualifying or a wet race.

No sooner had I written the above did Markus come out on track. He did one quick lap, recording a 1.27.924 and goes 2nd quickest! - although at this point there are only two drivers that have actually recorded times :o)

I asked the team garage about the strategy for Christijan now that he has had an engine replaced. I wondered whether the team would tune the setup and then conserve the mileage on the engine by doing just one timed qualifying lap? Oh no, was the reply. Christijan is going to give it all in qualifying just on the off chance that other cars also experience engine problems.

I also contacted James Mulholland at Eurosport.com to ask about the weather conditions. Here's the reply:

"14:19 Hi Huw: No it's not raining anymore. There have been a few drops here and there in the session and there are still wet areas on track, but the rain has stopped for now. Drivers are still on the wets, however."

Just before the half way point in the session, Markus takes to the track again, and on his hot lap posts purple sector times - and goes fastest of all by over 3 seconds!!! I need a screen shot of that one on my wall! His next lap is the same - purple all round - a 1.20.205 - the circuit must be drying out, although Eurosport are claiming that it is still raining at the circuit.

Christijan Albers takes to the track with 29 minutes of the session remaining. His first quick lap is a full second slower than that of Winkelhock, but on his second he claws back a massive one and a half seconds to move ahead of the team's development driver.

With 23.30 of the session remaining, the live timing board suddenly lights up as the majority of the grid pour out and start posting times, Tiago Monteiro among them. Christijan Albers is still out there and posting occasional green sector times and looking strong. Eurosport are still claiming that there is still some rain around the circuit, but there are drivers out on dry tyres...

20.00 to go, and Monteiro seems to be struggling in the 1.21s whilst Albers has managed a clear 1.19 - and no sooner have I written this than does he improve to a 1.20.490. Can Taigo see this screen as he drives?

17.50 and Eurosport report that the track is beginning to dry, although there are still damp areas that are catching out the drivers from time to time. Markus is out on track and pushing hard, recording a 1.18.501 only 1.999 slower than the pace setter and good enough for 14th out of the 28 drivers taking part in this session. Albers and Monteiro are down in 24th and 25th place, and behind the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato.

10.00 and all is relatively quiet with only eight drivers circulating, but that all changed at the 3 minute mark with almost all 28 drivers taking to the track. Both Albers and Monteiro were able to improve on their lap times to move ahead of the Super Aguri cars, but are still languishing down in 22nd and 23rd spots. Markus Winkelhock meantime improved on his earlier impressive time to record a 1.17.962, only 1.7 seconds slower that the pace, giving me a lot of hope for the third and final free practice session tomorrow.

Full timesheet from the second free practice session for the German Grand Prix:

1 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:16.225
2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:16.502
3 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:16.549
4 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.040
5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.205
6 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:17.294
7 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:17.344
8 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.516
9 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:17.519
10 Jenson Button Honda 1:17.542
11 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:17.672
12 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:17.844
13 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:17.895
14 Markus Winkelhock MF1-Toyota 1:17.962
15 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:18.082
16 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:18.164
17 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:18.223
18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:18.366
19 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth 1:18.460
20 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:18.616
21 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:18.636
22 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:18.643
23 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:18.991
24 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:19.113
25 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:19.232
26 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:19.365

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