Rosberg brilliant in Canadian Qualifying

Nico in sixth
By Andrew Hooper
June 24 2006

Nico Rosberg would produce a brilliant result after qualifying for the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix, finishing in sixth. This would go some way to make up for the disappointment of Mark Webber only qualifying seventeenth after failing to make the cut after the first period.

Canadian GP Qualifying

With Fernando Alonso setting the quickest practice time, a 1m:15.455, from team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella the teams would prepare for the qualifying session. The first fifteen minute period would get under way with Ralf Schumacher first out. He would be followed by Trulli and Nico. Mark would
also come out joined by Albers. The second MF1 of Monteiro was also out. Both Torro Rosso cars were also out on the circuit.

Webber The first driver to set a time would be Ralf with a 1m:22.019. He was beaten by Nico with a 1m:17.817 to go fastest. Trulli was in second but Albers moved ahead of the Toyota driver. Albers time was a 1m:18.254. Liuzzi was now in third followed by Monteiro, Trulli, and Mark was in sixth, 1m:19.689. Nico would pit while Scott Speed went fastest with a time of 1m:17.769. Raikkonen, Barrichello, and Button were all on the circuit. Monteiro was now in third and Albers fourth. Kimi would quickly move to the top of the times with a lap of 1m:17.574 but he was beaten by Speed and Klien who were now first and second. Mark was now in the pits.

Kimi's next lap would see him again fastest with a time of 1m:16.778. Rubens was now fourth, 1m:17.782. and team-mate Button sixth. Montoya would again join his team-mate at the top of the times, going fastest with a 1m:16.509. Everyone had come out except Villeneuve. Six minutes left and Massa was now in third, 1m:16.864. Nico was in seventh and Mark in thirteenth. For Renault Alonso would continue his good practice form by going fastest with a 1m:16.247. Massa would improve to move ahead of Kimi and back into third, 1m:16.259. Team-mate Michael was down in fifteenth. The second Renault of Fisichella would also continue its strong practice times going second with a 1m:15.917.

But Michael would put in a quick lap and take second from Giancarlo with a time of 1m:15.716. Nico was in eleventh and Mark in sixteenth and possibly looking at been dropped. But both drivers were back out with three minutes left in the session. Coulthard, Heidfeld, and Villeneuve had yet to set a time. Nico would move into eighth with a 1m:16.404. Mark was now in seventeenth. Heidfeld had moved up to be in fourth and Villeneuve tenth. Coulthard was now in eleventh.

But it with the end of the period Mark would be eliminated from qualifying. He was joined by Montagny, Sato, Albers, Monteiro, and Speed. What a disappointing run for the Australian. Nico was lucky to set his time as it was shown that he had made contact with the wall with his right front wheel.

The next period of qualifying would get under way, minus Mark Webber. Liuzzi would be the first driver out joined by Alonso, Fisichella, Ralf, Trulli, Nico, Coulthard, Klien and Heidfeld. Nico would go fastest with a time of 1m:15.773 but was beaten by both Alonso and Fisichella. The Renault's were again in first and second. Trulli was in fourth followed by Heidfeld and Ralf. Nico would pit. With nine minutes remaining neither of the McLaren's, Honda's or Ferrari's had set a
time.

Kimi's first lap would see him move into fifth. He would improve to be third while Montoya was now fourth. Nico was now down in seventh. Michael would move into fifth followed by Massa. With four minutes remaining things were looking difficult for both Honda and Red Bull cars. Michael was now in second, 1m:15.139. Montoya was in third. Fisichella was fourth followed by Raikkonen. Massa, Trulli, and Nico. Heidfeld and Ralf made up the top ten.

Nico's next lap would see an improvement, 1m:15.269, to move him into fourth. Barrichello and Button were able to move into ninth and tenth after some tweaks on their cars in the pit lane. With the end of the period the drivers to lose out were Villeneuve, Klien, Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher, Liuzzi, and Coulthard. A disappointing performance from the BMW Sauber's after their strong practice performances.

Even before the start of the final period both Alonso and Fisichella would be waiting at the pit lane exit. With the start of the twenty minute period everyone would come out to go through the process of burning off fuel. Nico was running in third behind the Renault's. Alonso would set the first time of 1m:19.601 but Fisichella was faster with a 1m:19.018. Michael would go fastest and Rubens was now in third.

Rosberg

Kimi was in fourth followed by Alonso. Nico was in sixth followed by Massa, Montoya, and Button. The times would start to come down as they burned off fuel. But their times were way off their earlier pace. Kimi would go fastest with a 1m:18.061. Nico was now in ninth with a 1m:19.765. With the session coming to its half way point we had yet to see any driver come into the pits for a tyre change. The first driver to pit would be Michael Schumacher. Massa would also come in. Both would take ion scrubbed tyres.

Fisichella would set the first quick time with a 1m:17.507. Alonso was now in second with a 1m:17.883. Kimi was now in his pit. Alonso would make his first stop. Michael was on a quick lap while Fisichella would also pit. Michael would go fastest with a 1m:16.284. Michael was attacking right through his lap. With five minutes left Kimi was on a flyer. Alonso was also on a quick lap. Kimi would go fastest with a 1m:15.564. Massa was now in fourth. Nico was still in tenth.

Alonso was fastest in the first two sectors. His lap would see him set a time of 1m:14.942 to take provisional pole. Fisichella and Michael would pit again. Nico was to stop for tyres while Michael took on new tyres. Montoya was in sixth followed by Button, Barrichello. Nico's lap on new tyres would see him in fourth, 1m:16.012, but Trulli would move ahead of him. Kimi would improve but stayed in second. Nico would pit again. Fisichella would move into second with a 1m:15.178. Kimi was back in the pits.

With the end of the period it would be Alonso who would take pole for the 20006 Canadian Grand Prix. Fisichella was in second followed by Raikkonen, Trulli, Michael, Nico, Montoya, Button, Barrichello, and Massa. What a great performance from Nico making up for the disappointment of Mark's result. Mark would start from seventeenth.