Wurz fastest in Friday 1st Practice at Sepang


Wurz

By Andrew Hooper
March 17 2006

Alex Wurz was fastest in first Friday practice at the Sepang circuit for the Malaysian GP. Neither Mark Webber or Nico Rosberg would take to the track preferring to sit out the session in their garages. With the WilliamsF1 cars running the same engine for a second race this is not surprising.

 
Malaysian GP Friday 1st Practice
 

In a session that would see neither of the WilliamsF1 team race drivers, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg, take to the track it would be their team-mate Alex Wurz who would top the times in the opening Friday practice at Sepang. Alex was seven-tenths clear of the second placed car with a time of 1m:34.946, completing nineteen laps.

WurzWith the teams having to run the same engines for a second Grand Prix weekend it was not surprising that some drivers would prefer to limit the time spent out on the track. Nine drivers would fail to set a time during the session. The other most notable cars not to even complete a lap were the Honda's of Button and Barrichello.

Of the regular drivers it would be the McLaren of Montoya who was fastest behind third placed Anthony Davidson, a time of 1m:36.709.He would finish ahead of Coulthard and the two Ferrari's of Schumacher and Massa. Montoya and Michael would only complete four laps each. Both Coulthard and Massa were running with new engines but had suffered a penalty as a result.

Both of the Renault's would complete two laps each but would fail to set a time. The same could be said for the BMW Sauber's of Heidfeld and Villeneuve. Kimi Raikkonen also preferred to conserve his car only running his installation lap and failing to set a time. Of the other teams both Toyota's, hoping to improve o their poor showing in Bahrain, were out with Trulli and Ralf Schumacher in ninth and twelfth.

The only moment during the session was when Tiago Monteiro would stop his car out on the track mid session.

It is expected that the second Friday practice session could se more of the same with the drivers limiting their laps and if possible preferring to use their Friday drivers to gather their data.
  
Pos  Driver        Team                     Time      Laps
 1.  Wurz          WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:34.946  19
 2.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:35.733  22
 3.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:35.997  25
 4.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:36.709  4
 5.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:37.042  7
 6.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:37.043  4
 7.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:37.557  18
 8.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:37.604  18
 9.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:37.826  9
10.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:38.448  5
11.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:38.668  21
12.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:38.837  8
13.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:39.599  14
14.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:39.899  8
15.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:40.092  22
16.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:40.123  8
17.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:40.608  12
18.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:41.072  18
19.  Ide           Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:43.449  19
20.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  No Time   1
21.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  No Time   2
22.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  No Time   2
23.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)  No Time   1
24.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  No Time   1
25.  Webber        WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  No Time
26.  Rosberg       WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  No Time
27.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  No Time
28.  Button        Honda               (M)  No Time
 

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