By Huw Alban
September 29 2006

Spyker MF1 Racing took to the competitive track today in their first complete Grand Prix weekend in Shanghai, China. Alexandre Premat did a superb job for the team, but Tiago Monteiro finished on top in the second session.

Unfortunately the fact that China is 7 hours behind the UK, and that I have a full time job prevented us from watching the practice sessions live. A small selection of forum members have a look though, but the overall conclusion was that the session was nothing spectacular for the team.

Alexandre Premat shone for the team in the first session recording the sixth fastest time of the day. Christijan and Tiago were way down the list, but I seem to remember Christijan admitting that his engine was on it's second race and that he wouldn't be doing many practice laps as a result.

For the second free practice session the entire grid plus all of the third drivers posted times, but Spyker MF1 were still able to put in a competitive show. Christijan Albers was obviously protecting his engine down in 28th place, Alexandre was still going strong in a very creditable 15th, but it was Tiago Monteiro that took the honours for the team with the 9th fastest time. Ordinary I'd be jumping around like a jack rabbit about that, but it is slightly worrying that a Super Aguri was able to record a 7th fastest time ahead of the popular Portuguese driver.

We won't be around for the third practice either and it is likely that we will miss the qualifying live as well, so we will report on those sessions retrospectively tomorrow. Full results from todays practice sessions are given below.

Full results from the First Free Practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix:

1 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth
2 Anthony Davidson Honda
3 Jenson Button Honda
4 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
5 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth
6 Alexandre Premat MF1-Toyota
7 Sebastian Vettel Sauber-BMW
8 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW
9 Michael Ammermuller RBR-Fer
10 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth
12 Rubens Barrichello Honda
13 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth
14 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota
15 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda
16 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota
17 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda
18 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes

 

Full results for the Second Free Practice Session for the Chinese Grand Prix:

1 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth
2 Sebastian Vettel Sauber-BMW
3 Anthony Davidson Honda
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari
5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
6 Fernando Alonso Renault
7 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda
8 Michael Ammermuller RBR-Ferrari
9 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota
10 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
11 Jenson Button Honda
12 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes
13 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth
14 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW
15 Alexandre Premat MF1-Toyota
16 Rubens Barrichello Honda
17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota
18 Jarno Trulli Toyota
19 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth
20 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth
21 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
22 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW
23 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth
24 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth
25 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda
26 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari
27 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari
28 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota
29 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda

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