By Nick Sparkes
February 3 2006
With the departure of Honda, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing over night it was once again left to Renault and Fernando Alonso to take the fastest time, but to the reigning champions credit, setting a time faster than on the two pervious days. Renault’s tester Heikki Kovalainen finished second. The two Renaults completed an enormous 300+ laps between them, setting the pace from start to finish. Behind the Renault pairing was Williams’ Nico Rosberg and McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa.
Toyota once again found themselves in the middle of the pack, with Ralf Schumacher finishing just ahead of tester Ricardo Zonta.
| 1 | F. Alonso | Renault | 01:10.552 | 144 | |
| 2 | H. Kovalainen | Renault | 01:10.953 | 163 | |
| 3 | N. Rosberg | Williams | 01:11.404 | 53 | |
| 4 | P. de la Rosa | McLaren | 01:11.607 | 96 | |
| 5 | N. Heidfeld | BMW | 01:11.797 | 83 | |
| 6 | R. Schumacher | Toyota | 01:11.851 | 77 | |
| 7 | R. Zonta | Toyota | 01:11.934 | 112 | |
| 8 | R. Kubica | BMW | 01:12.217 | 86 | |
| 9 | JP. Montoya | McLaren | 01:12.802 | 71 | |
| 10 | J. de Oliveira | Williams | 01:13.918 | 32 |
