Length: 4.411 km
Number of Laps: 70 (308.586 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'15''377 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: F. Alonso - 1'13''698 (2004, Renault)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'14''412 (Renault)
2005 Podium: F. Alonso - K. Raikkonen - M. Schumacher

The young Pole had spent the first three quarters of the session running long stints for BMW-Sauber, and with fifteen minutes left they sent him out to take the first place from the Renaults then topping the times.

A couple of runs later and Kubica put the be-finned F.106 almost six tenths clear of the nearest challenger – another fine days work for the increasingly impressive youngster.

With Kubicas 1:16.902 the only time to break the 1:17 mark, Fernando Alonso led the pack in second place with a 1:17.498, just 5 one-hundredths ahead of third placed Anthony Davidson, the Honda test driver running a similar programme to Kubica.

Alexander Wurz put in a late run to nudge Giancarlo Fisichella down to fifth, the Williams and the Renault setting times within a whisker of each other but a second down on the top time. Michael Schumacher set the best time for Ferrari in sixth, a similar distance behind Fisichella.

In seventh place, with another remarkable showing, is Adrian Sutil, the youngster displaying yet again that there is little wrong with either the Midland M16 or the Toyota engine in practice trim, and returning a time just shy of Schumachers, and a margin ahead of Robert Doornbos in the Red Bull.

Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli showed well in the Toyotas for ninth and eleventh, sandwiching the Toro Rosso of test driver Neel Jani.

Notable for keeping running to a minimum were the two Mclarens of Kimi Raikkonen (15th) and ‘new boy’ Pedro de la Rosa (22nd), and the Williams of Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg in 18th and 20th places respectively.

The BMW’s of Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve left most of the running to Kubica and finished down the order, while David Coulthard and Christian Klien were similarly hampered in their Red Bulls.

France’s sole representative this weekend, Franck Montagny in the Super Aguri, was at least spared the embarrassment of finishing last, his time quicker than that of incumbent race driver Sakon Yamamoto, and slightly slower than team mate Takuma Sato, this trio all finishing behind the Toro Rossos of Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi, as well as the Midlands of Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro.

So a more lively session this afternoon again gave the young man from Poland, Robert Kubica, a showcase for his undoubted talent, and the pace of the BMW gives hope that maybe the Renaults will not have it all their own way this weekend. Ferrari look to be trailing, but that is often the case on Fridays, while McLaren have yet to show their hand. Also interesting are the improving Toyota and Honda machines, and credit to Adrian Sutil who again put his name up there with Kubica as one of the sports ‘coming men’.