Wurz fastest in Friday 1st Practice at Silverstone


Alex Wurz

By Andrew Hooper
June 9 2006

WilliamsF1 test driver Alex Wurz was fastest in the first Friday Practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Neither Mark Webber or Nico Rosberg would take to the track with the team looking to minimise the mileage on their Cosworth engines.

 
British GP Friday 1st Practice
 

The opening practice for the 2006 British Grand Prix would get under way with both WilliamsF1 drivers running with Cosworth engines that would be seeing their second race weekend. With the start of the session there would be a rush of Friday drivers taking to the circuit, including Kubica, Davidson, Doornbos, Mondini. Both MF1 cars would come out for their installation lap. Sato,
Montagny and Yamamoto would also come out onto track. With most of the drivers returning to the pits it would be Davidson who would set the first time, 1m:25.336. He was joined by Alex. Davidson would improve his time with a 1m:24.389. Alex would set a time of 1m:26.894.

WurzAlex would lower his time with a 1m:25.531 to be 1.142 seconds behind Davidson. These two drivers were the only one's on the track with just over fifty minutes remaining. BMW's Robert Kubica would come back out joined by MF1's Mondini. Davidson would return to his garage while Super Aguri's Sakon Yamamoto would also come out. Kubica would move to the top of the times with a 1m:23.960. Mondini would set a time of 1m:26.554. Neel Jani was out on the track in his Torro Rosso. Alex would improve with a 1m:25.147 before returning to his garage. Montagny was back out but would come to a top on the main straight.

Yamamoto's first time would be a 1m:36.980, 13.020 seconds slower than Kubica. With the Super Aguri of Montagny halted on the entry into Copse the session was stopped to allow for the removal of his car. With forty five minutes remaining the session would get under way. Kubica, Davidson, and Sato
would come back out. They would be joined by the Toyota of Jarno Trulli for several installation laps. Davidson was on a quick lap been fastest in the final two sectors. His time would take him to the top of the times, 1m:23.264. Sato would return to his pit while Jani was back out. He would move into fourth with a 1m:26.463. Alex was back out and would improve his time with a 1m:24.619
but remained in third.

With just under forty minutes left in the session only seven drivers had set a time. Sato's time was a 1m:37.259 to put him behind Yamamoto. Ralf Schumacher was out on his installation lap. With thirty minutes remaining of the race drivers only Sato had set a time. Kubica was back out and would move back to the top of the times with a 1m:22.365. Davidson would return to the track
looking to improve on his current time of 1m:23.264. Yamamoto would improve his time with a 1m:30.613. Davidson would lower his time, 1m:22.440, to remain in second but just 0.075 behind Kubica. Jani was now in third with a 1m:24.358. Alex was still in his pit. Mondini would move ahead of Jani and into third, 1m:24.087. Alonso was out on his installation lap with just over twenty
minutes remaining.

WilliamsF1 TransportersAlex was back out joined by Sato and Doornbos. Alex's best was some 2.2 seconds slower than Kubica. Fisichella was also out on his installation lap. Alex was on a quick lap setting a new fastest second sector. His time of 1m:21.946 would see him move to the top of the times by 0.419 seconds. Like Alonso Fisichella would pit. With just over fifteen minutes left only Alex and Yamamoto were on the circuit. They would be joined by Jani and Kubica. Davidson would also come back out. Alex would pit with fourteen minutes remaining. Kubica was on a quick lap, fastest in the first sector. He would be followed by Davidson also on a quick lap. Kubica would not improve his time but Davidson would move ahead of the BMW Sauber driver, 1m:22.003.

With ten minutes remaining still only seven drivers had set a time. Hardly the type of session you would want to see if you were a paying spectator. Trulli was back out joined by Red Bull's Christian Klien. Alex was back out as Barrichello made his first appearance. Coulthard was also out joined by Raikkonen as the final eight minutes counted down. Both MF1's of Monteiro and Albers were
also out on the circuit. Montoya and Button were out on their installation lap. Alex was fastest in the second sector but would not improve his time. Scott Speed and Villeneuve were out on their installation lap.

Jarno Trulli who would set a time of 1m:22.877 to move into fourth. Barrichello was in fifth, 1m:23.764. Team-mate Button was in sixth with four minutes remaining. Both Ferrari's of Massa and Michael Schumacher weer out on the track. They wee joined by Nick Heidfeld. We had yet to see either Mark Webber or Nico Rosberg come out. Alex was back in hi s pit. Massa would move into twelfth with a 1m:24.512. Michael was now in fifth, 1m:22.925. Alex was still fastest followed by Davidson, Kubica, Trulli, Michael, Barrichello, Button and Massa who had moved into eighth. Michael would spin his car just before the bridge but was able to continue.

With the sessions end we failed to see either mark or Nico out on the track the WilliamsF1 team looking to minimise the mileage on their Cosworth engines.

Pos  Driver        Team                  Time      Laps
 1.  Wurz          WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:21.946 26
 2.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:22.003 31
 3.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:22.365 30
 4.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:22.877 7
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:22.925 3
 6.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:23.128 5
 7.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:23.415 6
 8.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:23.816 4
 9.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:24.019 6
10.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:24.070 6
11.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:24.087 19
12.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:24.145 22
13.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:27.724 10
14.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:29.678 22
15.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  No time  9
16.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  No time  3
17.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  No time  2
18.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  No time  1
19.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  No time  1
20.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  No time  1
21.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  No time  1
22.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  No time  1
23.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  No time  1
24.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  No time  1
25.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)  No time  1
26.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  No time  1
27.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  No time  1
28.  Webber        WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  No time
29.  Rosberg       WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  No time
 

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