Monza-Friday Free Practice round up.
By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
September 9 2006
Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher as usual did very little running in Friday practice for this weekends Italian Grand Prix at the historical Monza circuit.
Practice 1:
Both Jarno and Ralf did not set lap times in this session and both did 2 installation laps. Continuing to impress, BMW-Sauber third driver Sebastaian Vettel topped the time sheets as he did 2 weeks ago in Turkey. Vettel finsihed ahead of BMW-Sauber race driver Robert Kubica while Williams tester and newly promoted race driver for next season Alex Wurz was third.
Honda third driver Anthony Davidson was debuting the '07 V8 spec Honda engine and only managed a handful of laps before his engine let go in a spectacular fashion. Fortunatly for Davidson and Honda he could change his engine for the second practice session. Only 6 race drivers set times in the first session, they were Kimi Raikkonen in the Mcalren, Kubica in the BMW-Sauber, the Midlands of Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers and Takuma Sato & Sakon Yamamoto in the Super Aguri's.
Midland F1's third driver Giorgio Mondini bought up the rear of the cars that set laps.
Italian GP free practice session 1 times
1. S.VETTEL BMW-Sauber 1m23.363s
2. R.KUBICA BMW-Sauber 1m23.745s
3. A.WURZ Williams 1m23.868s
4. K.RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m24.037s
5. N.JANI Toro Rosso 1m24.196s
6. T.MONTEIRO Midland 1m25.413s
7. R.DOORNBOS Red Bull 1m25.578s
8. C.ALBERS Midland 1m25.766s
9. T.SATO Super Aguri 1m26.708s
10. S.YAMAMOTO Super Aguri 1m27.310
11. F.MONTAGNY Super Aguri 1m27.597s
12. G.MONDINI Midland 1m28.444s
13. A.DAVIDSON Honda no time
14. P.DE LA ROSA Mclaren no time
15. F.MASSA Ferrari no time
16. J.TRULLI Toyota no time
17. N.HEIDFELD BMW-Sauber no time
18. R SCHUMACHER Toyota no time
19. V.LIUZZI Toro Rosso no time
20. S.SPEED Toro Rosso no time
21. N.ROSBERG Williams no time
22. M.WEBBER Williams no time
23. C.KLIEN Red Bull no time
24. D.COULTHARD Red Bull no time
25. F.ALONSO Renault no time
26. G.FISICHELLA Renault no time
27. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari no time
28. R.BARRICHELLO Honda no time
29. J.BUTTON Honda no time
Practice 2:
Both Jarno and Ralf set times in the second practice session, with Jarno finishing 12th on a best time of 1m25.027 and Ralf finishing 17th with a best of 1m25.316.
Honda third driver Anthony Davidson had, remarkably, his second engine failure in a day just minutes into the session. The Monza circuit can be a car breaker but Honda must be worried about Race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello's chnaces this weekends judging by Davidsons practice session. As a result both Button and Barrichello did not set times in the session.
BMW-Sauber third driver Sebastian Vettel continued to impress in the second session. The Formula 3 Euroseries driver topped the time sheets with a best time of 1m22.631, ahead of Ferrari drivers of Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. A lot of hype is surronding the Ferrari team this weekend with an announcement on their race drivers and importantly the announcement of whether Michael Schumacher will retire.....or will he?
Finishing top race driver in the second session was a good start for Schumacher and he looks favourite to take victory this weekend. It would be a brave man to bet against him. His championship rival, and regining World Champion Fernando Alonso finsihed 8th in his Renault with a best time of 1m24.577. Its still only friday practice and a lot can still happnen this weekend. Its shaping up to be another great Italian Grand Prix at Monza!
Italian GP free practice session 2 times
1. VETTEL BMW-Sauber 1m22.631s
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m23.138s
3. MASSA Ferrari 1m23.182s
4. WURZ Williams 1m23.414s
5. DE LA ROSA Mclaren 1m23.970s
6. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m24.034s
7. HEIDFELD BMW-Sauber 1m24.330s
8. ALONSO Renault 1m24.577s
9. KUBICA BMW-Sauber 1m24.813s
10. MONTAGNY Super Aguri 1m24.943s
11. ALBERS Midland 1m24.985s
12. TRULLI Toyota 1m25.027s
13. ROSBERG Williams 1m25.040s
14. KLIEN Red Bull 1m25.108s
15. FISICHELLA Renault 1m25.160s
16. MONTEIRO Midland 1m25.277s
17. R SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m25.316s
18. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m25.318s
19. DAVIDSON Honda 1m25.356s
20. WEBBER Williams 1m25.500s
21. MONDINI Midland 1m25.586s
22. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m25.707s
23. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m25.755s
24. JANI Toro Rosso 1m25.878s
25. DOORNBOS Red Bull 1m26.058s
26. SATO Super Aguri 1m26.118s
27. YAMAMOTO Super Aguri 1m26.705s
28. BARRICHELLO Honda no time
29. BUTTON Honda no time