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| Brazilian GP 19th - 22nd October 2006 - Friday Free Practice 1.2 Report |
Length:
5.807 km |
| A more interesting session presented itself this afternoon at Interlagos, with occasions during the hour when all drivers took to the track.
The session began as a fight between the three test drivers, Alex Wurz, Anthony Davidson and Sebastian Vettel and, despite a brief interlude where some of the race drivers, chiefly Michael Schumacher and the Toyota pair, tried to get in on the action, the timesheet featured those three, in that order, come the end of the hour. It was hard fought and close, though, with the Williams recording 1:12.457, the Honda on 1:12.653, and the BMW just behind on 1;12.870. These three were the only drivers to break the 1:13 barrier. A sterling effort saw Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button, respectively for Japanese giants Toyota and Honda, separated by two thousandths of a second in fourth and fifth, with Schumacher brothers Michael and Ralf a few tenths back. Eighth place, and ‘man of the match’ for this commentator, went to Frenchman Franck Montagny after a truly astonishing performance in the Super Aguri. A time within a tenth of Michael Schumacher, and 1.2 seconds down on the fastest time, is something to be proud of. A great pity, then, that the best Takuma Sato could do was just shy of 1:15, and Sakon Yamamoto languished hopelessly in the 1:18’s. Kimi Raikkonen ran fewer laps than anybody for ninth place, while the final top ten place went to Fernando Alonso, quiet and invisible in the Renault. Further down the usual gaggle of Williams, BMW-Saubers, Red Bulls and Toro Rosso’s put in their usual cautious practice performances, while mention must be made of Tiago Monteiro, a creditable 15th for Spyker. It will have done the man from Portugal no harm, coming as it does during ‘contracts time’. We went into this session expecting we might see where the true pace of the title contenders lay; we saw nothing of the sort. Tomorrow sees the final hour of practice, followed by what could be the most crucial qualifying session if the year and, while we were looking to Mclaren to possibly spoil the Ferrari-Renault party, indications are that a spoiler may come from within one of the Japanese outfits, with Toyota looking particularly dangerous. |
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