Encouraging second practice for WilliamsF1


Alex third

By Andrew Hooper
June 24 2006

It would be an encouraging second practice for the WilliamsF1 team at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit as they prepare for Sunday's Canadian GP. Alex would finish in 3rd and Mark 7th. Nico was down in 21st after having gearbox problems that would see him only take to the track late in the session.

 
Canadian GP Friday 2nd Practice
 

The opening practice session for the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix would see WilliamsF1 Friday driver Alex Wurz finish in third. As for race drivers Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg neither would take to the circuit during the session. The fastest time of the session was a 1m:16.390 for Robert Kubica. The first driver out for the start of the second Friday practice was Super Aguri's Franck Montagny. He was followed by Kubica, Doornbos, Mondini, Jani, Montoya, and Davidson. Montoya would return to the pits.

RosbergTeam-mate Kimi Raikkonen was also out for his first laps, joined by Sato and Albers. Doornbos would go fastest with a time of 1m:21.441 but was beaten by Jani with a 1m:21.141. Davidson would move into third with a 1m:21.496. Kubica and Raikkonen would both pit. Doornbos would lower his time with a 1m:20.231. Davidson would move ahead of the Red Bull driver with a time of 1m:19.977. Jani was in third now with a time of 1m:20.794. Trulli was out on the track. But Doornbos would move ahead of Davidson with a 1m:19.811 but Anthony would respond with a time of 1m:19.216 to again be fastest.

Alex, Yamamoto, Liuzzi, and Ralf Schumacher had all come out . Trulli would move into fifth with a 1m:22.232, while Albers was in fourth. Jani was still in third. Sato was in sixth with a time of 1m:22.931. On his first lap Alex would go fastest, 1m:19.004, while Davidson had lowered his time with a 1m:19.135. Trulli was now in third and team-mate Ralf in fifth, 1m:19.816. Mondini would spin at Turn eight. Kubica was back out on the track with just over ten minutes of the session completed. Ralf would move into second with a 1m:19.097. Massa was out for his first run. But Kubica would return to the top of the times, 1m:17.249. Trulli was now in second behind the BMW Sauber driver, 1m:18.992.

Liuzzi had moved into seventh while team-mate Scott Speed was out on the circuit. Both Toyota's would pit. Speed would move into eighth, while Massa was now in tenth. Alex was in third as Massa move up into sixth, 1m:19.741. Monteiro and Michael Schumacher both came out for their first runs in the session. Alex would pit. Massa was now in fifth with a 1m:19.113. Coulthard was also out on the track, joined by Fisichella. With forty two minutes remaining Barrichello and Button would both come out from the pit lane. Michael's first lap would see him move into second, 1m:18.667, 1.4 seconds behind Kubica. Montoya would now return to the track.

The MF1 Toyota's of Monteiro and Albers were in twelfth and thirteenth. Fisichella would move into twelfth, 1m:20.582, on his first lap. Button was now in eighth, 1m:19.282. Barrichello would take this spot from his team-mate with a 1m:19.250. But Button would improve his time to now be in second, 1m:18.541. Montoya was in twenty first, 1m:23.931. Rubens was now in seventh, 1m:19.103. The times in this session would considerably slower than in the first. Fisichella would move into third with a 1m:18.573. Montoya was now up to fourteenth. Villeneuve would come out for the first time in the session.

Most of the front running drivers would pit leaving just Ralf Schumacher out on the track. Klien would come out leaving just four drivers yet to take to the circuit. This included mark Webber and Nico Rosberg. Barrichello had slowed but was able to return to his pit. Fifth placed Trulli was back out while Villeneuve would move into seventeenth. On his next lap Jacques would move into fourth, 1m:18.663. Alonso was out on the track. Now we had Mark out for his first laps of the day. Heidfeld was also out. Kubica would join team-mate Villeneuve out on the circuit. Alonso was in twelfth, 1m:19.407. Heidfeld's first lap would see him move into third, 1m:18.556. Mark was now in seventh, 1m:18.879.

Alonso would not stay in the middle order for long moving up to second, 1m:18.353. But Mark and Heidfeld would move ahead of the Renault driver, Mark into second, 1m:17.848, and Heidfeld third. Kubica had improve his time with a 1m:16.965 to be 0.883 seconds ahead of Mark. But Mark's time in second was short as Raikkonen would take this pot with a 1m:17.490. Alex had moved into fourth. Nico had still yet to come out for his first laps. Heidfeld was in fifth followed by Alonso, Button, Fisichella, Michael Schumacher, and Villeneuve. Mark would pit while Alex continued to lap the circuit. While Kimi pitted Montoya was down in twenty first with twenty minutes remaining.

But Montoya was able to improve his time, 1m:18.972, to move into twelfth just behind Scott Speed. Fisichella would have a moment at the final chicane missing it as the drivers struggled with the low grip levels. Fisichella was able to move in seventh ahead of Button. The Red Bull's of Klien and Coulthard were down in twenty second and twenty third. With fifteen minutes remaining Nico had still yet to set a time. There were only a handful of drivers on the track. Button and Barrichello were in eighth and ninth. Doornbos would move up now be in tenth, 1m:18.551. He would improve to be in sixth, 1m:18.201. Michael was back out with just over ten minutes remaining. Nico would finally make an appearance. As for top speeds Mark was near the top in the speed traps. There was now a rush of drivers all looking to put in their final laps. Alex was back out. It was reported that Nico had a gearbox issue that delayed his departure from his pit.

Nico was down in twenty sixth, 1m:19.931. Alex had moved into second with a 1m:17.337 while Mark was also out on the circuit. Alex would pit while Liuzzi was now in fifth, 1m:18.009. The Renault's were in eighth and ninth. Raikkonen was also back out for his final laps. Nico had now moved up to be in twentieth, 1m:19.048. Nico would have a moment that would see him take to the grass but would continue. Alex was now out again as the final minutes counted down. There was only a few drivers in their garages. Kubica would finally come in after completing some long runs.

Alonso would move up to now be in fifth, 1m:18.001. There would not be a lot of changes as the final minutes counted down but Alonso would improve his time to move into second, 1m:17.095. Alex was now in third and Mark in sixth. Davidson had jumped ahead of the Australian and into fifth as the session came to an end. In the closing moments Fisichella would move into sixth. So the top ten order was Kubica, Alonso, Wurz, Raikkonen, Davidson, Fisichella, Webber, Liuzzi, and Heidfeld. Nico was down in twenty first after having to contend with problems with his car.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:16.965 33
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:17.095 15
 3.  Wurz          WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:17.337 21
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:17.490 10
 5.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:17.627 32
 6.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:17.805 21
 7.  Webber        WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:17.848 13
 8.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:18.009 18
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:18.015 13
10.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:18.035 14
11.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:18.201 32
12.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:18.279 16
13.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:18.429 18
14.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:18.503 20
15.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:18.549 17
16.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:18.614 23
17.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:18.761 14
18.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:18.865 15
19.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:18.868 17
20.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:18.907 21
21.  Rosberg       WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:19.048 10
22.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:19.099 15
23.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:19.138 24
24.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:19.313 15
25.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:19.541 28
26.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:19.624 22
27.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:20.197 26
28.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:20.262 18
29.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:21.434 22
 

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