WilliamsF1 drops down times in Friday 2nd Practice


Nick Heidfeld

By Andrew Hooper
April 22 2005

The BMW WilliamsF1 team would have to cope with the sight of both drivers outside the top ten after the 2nd Friday practice. Nick was down in 14th while Mark was in 18th. Despite their low positions neither driver expressed any concern saying that the team worked through their normal programme.

 
San Marino GP Friday 2nd Practice
 

The second Friday practice session at Imola would see the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers drop down the times with Nick in fourteenth and Mark eighteenth. Both drivers worked through their tyre evaluations as well as their normal programme aimed focusing on the setup of the FW27.

HeidfeldNick would complete sixteen laps, with a best lap time of 1m:23.485, while Mark could only manage a time of 1m:23.964 after completing fourteen laps.

With Nick and Mark in eighth and tenth positions after the opening Friday practice at Imola the teams would start the second session. The weather remained sunny as Red Bull's Christian Klien and Jordan's Robert Doornbos were first out onto the track. There were five other cars, including the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen.

Kimi would go fastest with a time of 1m:22.945. Klien would set his first time with a 1m:26.202, while Pedro de la Rosa would return to the top of the times with a
1m:24.230. Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella would make his first run, having spent the first session in his garage. Both Ferrari's and the BAR of Jenson Button were also out.

Jenson would go fastest with a time of 1m:21.052. Unlike the first session there was a lot of activity. BAR team-mate Takuma Sato would go fastest, while Fisichella was in sixth, and Michael Schumacher fourth. Fisichella was running with a new front wing with an extra element at the top. The only driver yet to set a time was team-mate Fernando Alonso.

With twenty minutes run Fisichella set a quick time seeing him move into second with a 1m:22.211. Rubens Barrichello would move ahead of the Italian with a 1m:22.048. After there initial runs most cars would return to the pits but as the session neared its half way mark they would start to return. Both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers would take to the track and Mark Webber would only manage a 1m:24.123 to be in fifteenth. Nick would set a time to be one place in front of his team-mate.

WebberSauber's Jacques Villeneuve was now seventh with a 1m:22.995. Yellow flags were shown when Jordan's Doornbos was to put his car in to the gravel, losing its front wing. He was able to continue and return to his pit. Fernando Alonso would come out for the first time out on the track. On his first lap he would set a time of 1m:23.221, to be eleventh. Wurz moved up the times with a 1m:22.174, to be third. A 1m:22.912 for Alonso would see him now in eighth. Kimi Raikkonen was now second with a 1m:21.704. Both Wurz and Raikkonen would return to their pits after setting their quick times.

A 1m:22.667 would see Alonso still in eighth and he would return to his garage looking confident. With ten minutes left to run Toyota's Ralf Schumacher would spin his Toyota on the top of the hill, at turn nine. McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa would again go fastest with a time of 1m:20.484. This time is less than a tenth off Michael Schumacher's 2004 lap record.

Alonso would come back out and look to set a quick time. He would set a time of 1m:21.899. Michael Schumacher would improve to be fifth while Toyota's Ricardo Zonta would jump into fourth with a 1m:21.889.

So as the session came to a close it would be Pedro de la Rosa fastest from Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                  Time      Laps
 1.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:20.484 31
 2.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:21.052 28
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:21.704 16
 4.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:21.889 35
 5.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:21.899 10
 6.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:22.025 24
 7.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:22.048 22
 8.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:22.174 17
 9.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:22.211 23
10.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:22.335 27
11.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:22.791 23
12.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:22.955 22
13.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:23.343 20
14.  Heidfeld      WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  1:23.458 16
15.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:23.466 21
16.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:23.815 20
17.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:23.842 16
18.  Webber        WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  1:23.964 14
19.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:24.320 38
20.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:24.573 21
21.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:24.626 29
22.  Doornbos      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:25.172 15
23.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:26.620 14
24.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  No Time
 
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