Rosberg 7th in final Japanese practice

Nico Rosberg
By Andrew Hooper
October 7 2006

WilliamsF1 driver Nico Rosberg would finish in seventh in final practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix. Team-mate Mark Webber was down in fifteenth in what must be a disappointing result for the Australian given his team-mates place in the top ten.

Japanese GP Saturday Practice

On a bright and sunny day the final practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix would see Nico Rosberg be the first of the WilliamsF1 drivers to take to the track. Mark Webber would follow him out a few minutes later. On his first lap Nico would move into third, 1m:36.499. But he would drop down the order as other drivers posted faster times.

Webber Nico would improve his time with a 1m:36.198. Mark's first lap was a 1m:36.877. Nico would improve to be quickest but this would turn into fourth, 1m:34.968. Mark was down in eighth with a 1m:36.139. Both Nico and Mark would pit with twenty minutes of the session completed.

The final ten minutes of the session would see Nico move into third. But in the closing minutes of the session Nico would drop down to finish in seventh and Mark was a disappointing fifteenth, some 2.6 seconds off the pole time of 1m:30.653.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:30.653 13
 2.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:31.863 15
 3.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:32.310 12
 4.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:32.527 13
 5.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:32.555 14
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:32.590 15
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:32.730 18
 8.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:32.730 12
 9.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:32.787 17
10.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:32.790 15
11.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:32.977 20
12.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:33.163 12
13.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:33.213 20
14.  Albers        Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:33.270 23
15.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:33.339 17
16.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:33.451 16
17.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:33.663 12
18.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:33.748 16
19.  Monteiro      Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:33.824 19
20.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:34.118 15
21.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:34.646 10
22.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:34.727 20