WilliamsF1 7th & 8th after final Imola practice


Webber in 7th

By Andrew Hooper
April 23 2005

The BMW WilliamsF1 team would see its drivers in 7th & 8th after the practice session at Imola. Mark Webber would be in front of team-mate Nick Heidfeld. Both drivers would set their times in the closing minutes of the session after having been outside the top ten.

 
San Marino GP Saturday 2nd Practice
 

The final practice session for the San Marino Grand Prix would see BMW WilliamsF1's Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld finish in seventh and eighth. As in the previous race in Bahrain both drivers had set times that were way of the pace until the closing minutes when both would set times seeing them in the top ten.

WebberWith Michael Schumacher fastest this morning, backed up by team-mate Rubens Barrichello the teams would start the second Saturday practice session. The first car out was Red Bull's Tonio Liuzzi, followed by Jenson Button and team-mate Sato. Villeneuve and Wurz would also take to the track.

The first time was recorded by Liuzzi with a time of 1m:24.628. He would improve with a 1m:23.789. Button was in second with a 1m:24.955. Sato would go fastest with a 1m:23.541. A time of 1m:23.805 sees Villeneuve in third. Wurz would move into first with a 1m:23.126. But Sato would move ahead of Alex with a time of 1m:23.005. Ralf Schumacher was out and would move in to third, with a 1m:23.649.

The times would continue to fall with Sato lowering the quickest time with a
1m:22.332. Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella was now in sixth with a 1m:23.880.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso was still yet to come out. The Spaniard had completed very few laps so far in the weekend. Fisichella was now second with a time of 1m:22.673.

But his time was beaten by Kimi Raikkonen with a 1:21.914. Michael Schumacher would come out and his lap would easily pass Sato's, a time of 1m:21.326. Massa would move into second with a time of 1m:21.875. Felipe continued to show his quick pace of the earlier session. Jordan's Tiago Monteiro would put his car into the gravel ending his session.

With twenty minutes of the session run neither BMW WilliamsF1 driver had come out. But one driver who did was Renault's Fernando Alonso. His first lap of 1m:21.626 would see him move into third. Rubens Barrichello would push team-mate Michael into second when Rubens was to set the fastest time with a lap of 1m:21.289. Villeneuve was now in third with an 1m:21.764.

Nick Heidfeld would come out and his first lap would see him in ninth with a time of 1m:22.891. Jacques next lap of 1m:21.543 would see him remain in third. The two Renault's of Alonso and Fisichella were in fourth and fifth, while Nick was pushed down to tenth. At the f4ront the McLaren's of Raikkonen and Wurz would show their pace with Wurz setting a time of 1:20.258, while Kimi would set a time of 1m:20.209.

The pace was certainly getting quicker with Ralf Schumacher setting a time of
1m:20.918 for fifth. Coulthard was in sixth. But the top spot would change with
Button setting a time of 1m:20.058 to go fastest. Michael would move back into third with a time of 1m:20.318. Nick was now in fifteenth, with Mark yet to set a time.

Trulli would move into sixth behind team-mate Ralf. Barrichello was now down in
eighth. Massa would move back up the order into fifth, with a 1m:20.506. Mark
Webber's first lap would see him finish in thirteenth with a time of 1m:21.973, 1.9
seconds off the pace. Nick was in sixteenth.

Both Fisichella and Sato would improve moving into fourth and fifth positions, with
times of 1m:20.354 and 1m:20.450. Alonso was again out on the circuit. He was
fastest in the first two sectors, finishing his lap with a time of 1m:20.114 to move
into second. With only a few minutes remaining things were not looking good for
either mark or Nick.

But both Mark and Nick would come out in the closing moments looking to set a quick time. Nick's lap of 1m:20.431 would see him move into seventh. Just moments later mark would push Nick down one spot as Mark set a time of 1m:20.242 to take seventh. So with the end of practice it was Button leading Alonso, Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Fisichella and Wurz.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                   Time     Laps
 1.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:20.058  16
 2.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:20.114  8
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:20.209  10
 4.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:20.318  13
 5.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:20.351  18
 6.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:20.358  11
 7.  Webber        WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  1:20.424  6
 8.  Heidfeld      WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  1:20.431  6
 9.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:20.450  17
10.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:20.506  11
11.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:20.802  11
12.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:20.851  12
13.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:21.105  14
14.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:21.136  12
15.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:21.543  11
16.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:22.188  13
17.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:22.964  8
18.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:24.910  5
19.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  No Time
20.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  No Time
 
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