Italy: Trulli makes the top five for Toyota


By Nick Sparkes
September 3 2005

Panasonic Toyota Racing were again out on track for the final two Practice sessions of the weekend. In both, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher find tuned their cars for this afternoons Qualifying Session and more importantly for tomorrows Grand Prix.

The only piece of news coming out of Monza on Saturday morning was that BMW Williams driver Nick Heidfeld, would be replaced by Williams tester Antonio Pizzonia for this weekends Italian Grand Prix. Heidfeld had suffered from bad headache's since his Monza crash last week and seven days on, he feels no better. This means for the third Italian Grand Prix in a row, Williams will field a test driver on the grid come Sunday afternoon.

 

On another hot and humid day, the first session, again like yesterdays, saw little running by all of the ten teams. Ralf Schumacher got off to a good start with the ninth fastest time, whilst his teammate, Jarno Trulli could only manage twelfth by the chequered flag.

In a surprising turn of events, Michael Schumacher suddenly found some speed to end up second, a handful of tenths behind the flying Finn Kimi Raikkonen who has been fast all weekend.

Pos. Driver Team Time
Laps
1 K. Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes
1:22.415
5
2 M. Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
1:22.550
5
3 J. Montoya West McLaren Mercedes
1:22.676
5
4 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
1:22.867
9
5 G. Fisichella Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
1:22.900
9
6 M. Webber BMW WilliamsF1 Team
1:23.162
4
7 T. Sato Lucky Strike BAR Honda
1:23.257
10
8 J. Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda
1:23.875
5
9 R. Schumacher Panasonic Toyota Racing
1:23.898
9
10 R. Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
1:23.942
7
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull Racing
1:24.019
8
12 J. Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing
1:24.192
5
13 A. Pizzonia BMW WilliamsF1 Team
1:24.367
7
14 C. Klien Red Bull Racing
1:24.390
7
15 F. Massa Sauber Petronas
1:24.447
6
16 T. Monteiro Jordan Grand Prix
1:24.668
6
17 J. Villeneuve Sauber Petronas
1:25.041
5
18 N. Karthikeyan Jordan Grand Prix
1:25.172
11
19 R. Doornbos Minardi F1 Team
1:25.722
8
20 C. Albers Minardi F1 Team
1:26.197
5

The second and final session of the weekend again saw minimum running from all of the ten teams, to the disappoint of the already frustrated Italian crowd. But there was one Italian still hoping to have something to celebrate by Sunday afternoon, Jarno Trulli was every so slowly working his way up the time sheets, with a creditable fifth fastest time by the end of session. His teammate Ralf Schumacher was back in the pack with fourteenth, still getting to grips with the set-up of his TF105.

Overall it was McLaren’s session, with a 1-2 finish with Kimi topping the time sheet again. Ferrari look to have dropped back  with the BAR’s and Renault’s mixing it into the top six. Toyota are looking odds on for another top ten Qualifying position, but with McLaren, BAR and Renault looking so strong, a front row slot for Jarno Trulli’s home race seems a near impossible task.

Pos. Driver Team Time
Laps
1 K. Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes
1:20.916
8
2 J. Montoya West McLaren Mercedes
1:21.318
10
3 T. Sato Lucky Strike BAR Honda
1:21.399
13
4 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
1:21.548
13
5 J. Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing
1:21.884
14
6 G. Fisichella Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
1:21.951
12
7 M. Webber BMW WilliamsF1 Team
1:22.066
7
8 D. Coulthard Red Bull Racing
1:22.291
16
9 C. Klien Red Bull Racing
1:22.345
12
10 M. Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
1:22.395
14
11 R. Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
1:22.437
13
12 J. Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda
1:22.558
13
13 J. Villeneuve Sauber Petronas
1:22.701
12
14 R. Schumacher Panasonic Toyota Racing
1:22.710
11
15 A. Pizzonia BMW WilliamsF1 Team
1:22.823
10
16 F. Massa Sauber Petronas
1:23.389
12
17 T. Monteiro Jordan Grand Prix
1:23.472
15
18 R. Doornbos Minardi F1 Team
1:23.676
14
19 C. Albers Minardi F1 Team
1:24.104
12
20 N. Karthikeyan Jordan Grand Prix
1:24.772
11

Times courtesy of toyota-f1.com

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