Chinese Grand Prix-Friday Practice Round up
By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
September 29 2006
Toyota drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli did very little running in today's Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. Neither set a time in the first session but in the second they coud only manage 17th and 18th respectivley.
Here's the story of Friday Practice for the Chinese Grand Prix of 2006.
Session 1
Williams test driver Alexander Wurz topped the time sheets for the first session. The Austrian test driver who has been promoted to the race seat for next season battled througout the session with Honda third man Anthony Davidson, Wurz coming out on top with a best time of 1m35.574.
Jenson Button was the fastest of the race drivers in 3rd Position whilst 7 times World Champion Micahel Schumacher was fourth, his title rival Fernando Alonso did not set a time. Neel Jani was a good 5th for Scuderia Toro Rosso ahead of the first of the GP2 graduates of 2006. Alex Premat making his debut for the 'all-new' Sypker-MF1 team was 6th whilst at Red Bull Christian Klien has been dropped for the rest of the season. Robert Doornbos takes Klien's place in the race team whilst Premat's fellow GP2 rival Micahel Ammermuller who takes over the Red Bull test duties was in 9th place on hsi debut. BMW-Sauber drivers Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica seperating the two. Franck Montagny was a good 10th for Super Aguri, his time a 1m38.464. Kimi Raikkonen brought up the rear of the 18 drivers who hit the circuit.
Session 1 Times.
1. Alex WURZ (AUT) Williams-Cosworth 1m35.574s
2. Anthony DAVIDSON (GBR) Honda 1m35.591s
3. Jenson BUTTON (GBR) Honda 1m37.291s
4. Michael SCHUMACHER (D) Ferrari 1m37.712s
5. Neel JANI (SWI) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m37.734s
6. Alex PREMAT (FRA) Spyker-MF1 1m37.787s
7. Sebastian VETTEL (D) BMW-Sauber 1m37.913s
8. Robert KUBICA (POL) BMW-Sauber 1m38.062s
9. Michael AMMERMULLER (D) Red Bull Ferrari 1m38.460s
10. Franck MONTAGNY (FRA) Super Aguri Honda 1m38.464s
11. Vitantonio LIUZZI (ITA) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m39.000s
12. Rubens BARRICHELLO (BRA) Honda 1m39.217s
13. Scott SPEED (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m39.428s
14. Christijan ALBERS (NED) Spyker-MF1 1m39.494s
15. Takuma SATO (JPN) Super Aguri Honda 1m39.887s
16. Tiago MONTEIRO (POR) Spyker-MF1 1m39.947s
17. Sakon YAMAMOTO (JPN) Super Aguri Honda 1m41.415s
18. Kimi RAIKKONEN (FIN) McLaren-Mercedes 1m45.890s
19. Nick HEIDFELD (D) BMW -Sauber no time
20. Jarno TRULLI (ITA) Toyota no time
21. Ralf SCHUMACHER (D) Toyota no time
22. DavidCOULTHARD (GBR) Red Bull Ferrari no time
23. Robert DOORNBOS (NED) Red Bull Ferrari no time
24. Fernando ALONSO (ESP) Renault F1 no time
25. Giancarlo FISICHELLA (ITA) Renault F1 no time
26. Pedro DE LA ROSA (ESP) Mclaren-Mercedes no time
27. Felipe MASSA (BRA) Ferrari no time
28. Mark WEBBER (AUS) Williams-Cosworth no time
29. Nico ROSBERG (D) Williams-Cosworth no time
Session 2
Jarno and Ralf both ran in this session but did limited running. Ralf finished the session in 17th place on a time of 1m38.888 with Jarno just behind in 18th on a 1m38.959. Toyota having the usual Friday performance, expect them to be stronger tommorow.
Wurz did the double and was fastest in the second session ahead of BMW-Sauber third man Vettel who was continuing to impress. Honda's Davidson made it a Friday third driver 1-2-3. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the fastest of the racers in 4th ahead of title rivals Michael Schuacher and Alonso- The title battle in China has started! The biggest suprise of the session was Montagny who was a fantastic seventh for Super Aguri, full credit to him! Ammermuller continued to impress on his debut for Red Bull Racing just one place behind Montagny in 8th place. Tiago Monteiro in the Sypker-MF1 and Giancarlo Fisichella in the Renault rounded out the top 10.
Session 2 times
1. WURZ Williams 1m35.539s
2. VETTEL BMW-Sauber 1m35.579s
3. DAVIDSON Honda 1m35.714s
4. MASSA Ferrari 1m36.599s
5. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m36.641s
6. ALONSO Renault 1m36.739s
7. MONTAGNY Super Aguri 1m37.278s
8. AMMERMULLER Red Bull 1m37.678s
9. MONTEIRO Spyker-MF1 1m37.698s
10. FISICHELLA Renault 1m37.718s
11. BUTTON Honda 1m37.861s
12. DE LA ROSA Mclaren 1m38.022s
13. WEBBER Williams 1m38.045s
14. HEIDFELD BMW-Sauber 1m38.062s
15. PREMAT Spyker-MF1 1m38.098s
16. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m38.276s
17. R SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m38.888s
18. TRULLI Toyota 1m38.959s
19. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m39.080s
20. JANI Toro Rosso 1m39.118s
21. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m39.179s
22. KUBICA BMW -Sauber 1m39.217s
23. ROSBERG Williams 1m39.522s
24. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m39.570s
25. YAMAMOTO Super Aguri 1m39.636s
26. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m40.155s
27. DOORNBOS Red Bull 1m40.214s
28. ALBERS Spyker-MF1 1m40.319s
29. SATO Super Aguri 1m41.315s