Wurz fourth fastest in 2nd French Friday practice

The morning practice session for the French Grand Prix would see Kubica fastest from Anthony Davidson. Jenson Button would put in a late lap in his Honda and was the fastest race driver in third ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Adrian Sutil driving the third MF1 Toyota. Alex was seventh and Nico tenth in the first session.

It was confirmed that the WilliamsF1 will complete an examination of Nico's engine this evening. Nico would use this engine for both Friday practice sessions but depending on the check the team may have to change it. This engine was first used in the United States Grand Prix where it was over-revved. The question is as to whether the engine sustained any damage that could cause a failure. If the engine is changed it will be replaced by a new Series 6 version that is being used by Mark Webber for the first time this weekend.

The team had also replaced the Budweiser logos on their cars in line with the restrictions on alcohol advertising in France.

The second practice session would get underway with Kubica the first driver on track followed by Doornbos, Sutil, Yamamoto and Wurz. Heidfeld would heads also head out in his BMW Sauber joined by Davidson and Jani. The test drivers would stay out while Heidfeld would return to the pits. Alex would set the fastest time with a 1m:20.252 but Davidson would go fastest while Christijan Albers came out in his MF1 Toyota. Doornbos would move into second with a 1m:19.780. Sutil was in third. Kubica was in fifth, 1m:21.203 but he would return to his pit.

Ralf Schumacher and Scott Speed would come out and their first laps would see them in fifth and fourth positions. Speed would pit while Alex would move into fifth with a 1m:20.131. Albers was now in eighth with a time of 1m:21.417. Trulli, Massa, and Nico were all out completing their installation laps. Heidfeld was to pit. Trulli would move into sixth, 1m:20.184. With forty five minutes remaining Davidson was fastest from Doornbos, Sutil, Speed, Alex, Trulli, Ralf, Albers, Jani, and Sato completing the top ten. Massa's first lap would see him go fastest. Christijan Albers would go off and into the gravel at Imola. He was able to get his car going again and returned to his pit.

Massa would improve with a 1m:19.048 but Torro Rosso's Jani would move ahead of Massa with a time of 1m:18.907. Barrichello had come out and he would move into third with a 1m:19.259. Nico was in eighth position with a time of 1m:19.995. De la Rosa and Michael Schumacher had taken to the track for their first runs.

As Massa pitted Michael was on a quick lap which would see him fastest with a time of 1m:17.938. De la Rosa was down in ninth, 1m:19.830. Nico was now in eleventh. Barrichello would go off at the Nürburgring chicane crashing into the barriers ending his session. Alex was now down in thirteenth. Michael would pit leaving just a handful of drivers running, including Button who was only in fifteenth, 1m:20.279. Alex was back out joined by both Speed and Liuzzi. We would see Coulthard, Klien, and Fisichella all come out for their installation laps. They were joined by Alonso.

Coulthard's first lap would see him in fourteenth, 1m:20.135. Liuzzi was down in seventeenth. Fisichella's first lap would see him move into third, 1m:19.033, but he was over a second slower than Michael. Massa was now in fourth followed by Trulli, Barrichello, Davidson, and Alex. Nico was down in fourteenth. Fisichella's next lap would see him go fastest with a time of 1m:17.916. Villeneuve and Heidfeld were both out on the circuit. Alonso was now in twelfth after an easy first lap. But his next lap would be a lot quicker seeing him go fastest with a time of 1m:17.498.

With twenty five minutes left we had a Renault one-two at the top of the itmes as Fisichella pitted. Heidfeld was down in twenty second. We had yet to see either Raikkonen or Mark Webber. Sutil was to spin his car at Imola but was able to continue. Massa was back out as Heidfeld moved into eleventh, 1m:19.652. Nico was now in seventeenth and back out on the track. Alonso was to pit as Raikkonen came out for the first time this weekend. Heidfeld would improve to now be in seventh, 1m:19.108. Michael was also out on the track. Mark would finally come out for his installation lap.

Raikkonen's first lap would see him in tenth but he would improve to be in eighth, 1m:19.140. Alex was now in twelfth, 1m:19.557. Nico was down in sixteenth. With twenty minutes left the top ten was Alonso followed by Fisichella, Michael, Jani, Massa, Trulli, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Barrichello, and Davidson. Massa would pit without improving his position. Mark would move into twelfth on his first lap, 1m:19.413. Sutil would move his MF1 ahead of Massa and into fifth. Kimi would pit while de la Rosa went back out.

For Scott Speed his session would end when he was to crash his car at the Nürburgring corner when he spun off backwards. All three WilliamsF1 drivers would return to their pits. Again their was only a handful of runners with Button been one of them. The Honda driver was down in twenty fourth, 1m:20.279. Alex would come back out with thirteen minutes left in the session. Both Renault's had also left the pit lane. Nico was down in twentieth. Both Toyota's had returned to the track. On his first lap Alex would put in a quick lap moving into second, 1m:17.859 but Kubica would move to the top of the times with a 1m:17.395. Alex was now in third.

Both Nico and Mark were still in their garages with under ten minutes remaining. Both Kubica and Alex would pit. Doornbos and Ralf were now in seventh and eighth. Alonso would pit while Sutil was now in sixth just behind Michael. Nico was back out for his final runs of the day. Trulli was in eighth. Mark was now down in sixteenth and Nico twentieth with five minutes left. Kubica was back out and was on another quick lap lowering his time with a 1m:16.902. Alex would also return to the track for his final laps. With the final minutes counting down there was a rush of drivers coming back out. This included Mark. After lowering his time Kubica would pit.

Mark was now in eighteenth and Nico twentieth, 1m:19.692. Button would improve to be in twelfth, 1m:19.005. Davidson had moved up to be in third, 1m:17.750. Alex was now in fourth and Mark and Nico were now in eighteenth and nineteenth places. Both drivers were over 2.5 seconds off the quickest time as the session came to a close. At least Alex's time does indicate that the FW28 has the pace. In the final moments Liuzzi would split the two WilliamsF1 drivers. Raikkonen would stop his car in the third sector with a problem with his car.