1st Friday Practice: flying Kubica leads

By BMW Sauber F1
July 14 2006

In the first free practice session for the French Grand Prix, BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Robert Kubica dominated the session. He held the top position throughout the 60-minute session, with Jacques Villeneuve also contributing to the team's preparations.

It was a flawless first free practice session for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. As usual, Robert, the team's test and reserve driver, was among the busiest drivers. While working on the set-up and carrying out tyre evaluations, the young Pole completed 31 laps in four stints. He took the lead during his first stint, improved his lap times consistently and when the session was over, he held the lead with a 1:16.794-minute lap, 0.399 seconds faster than second-placed Anthony Davidson.

Jacques joined the preparation work in session one. The Canadian completed an installation lap and a five-lap stint, setting a personal fastest lap time of 1:19.063 minutes and finished eighth. Nick Heidfeld, however, did not even go out for an installation lap.

In the second session, from 14:00hrs CEST (13:00hrs BST), the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers will continue its preparations for the remainder of the 11th GP weekend.

Times:
1- Robert Kubica / Sauber-BMW 1:16.794

2- Anthony Davidson / Honda 1:17.133

3- Jenson Button / Honda 1:18.160

4- Ralf Schumacher / Toyota 1:18.752

5- Adrian Sutil / MF1-Toyota 1:18.777

6- Neel Jani / STR-Cosworth 1:18.962

7- Alexander Wurz / Williams-Cosworth 1:19.055

8- Jacques Villeneuve / Sauber-BMW 1:19.063

9- Robert Doornbos / RBR-Ferrari 1:19.311

10- Nico Rosberg / Williams-Cosworth 1:19.401

11- Christijan Albers / MF1-Toyota 1:19.465

12- Jarno Trulli / Toyota 1:19.806

13- Tiago Monteiro / MF1-Toyota 1:20.335

14- Franck Montagny / Super Aguri-Honda 1:20.790

15- Takuma Sato / Super Aguri-Honda 1:21.160

17- Giancarlo Fisichella / Renault

18- Fernando Alonso / Renault

19- Pedro de la Rosa / McLaren-Mercedes

20- Scott Speed / STR-Cosworth

21- Vitantonio Liuzzi / STR-Cosworth

22- David Coulthard / RBR-Ferrari

23- Christian Klien / RBR-Ferrari

24- Kimi Räikkönen / McLaren-Mercedes

25- Michael Schumacher / Ferrari

26- Felipe Massa / Ferrari

27- Mark Webber / Williams-Cosworth

28- Rubens Barrichello / Honda

29- Nick Heidfeld / Sauber-BMW