Webber sixth in final Chinese practice


Mark Webber

By Andrew Hooper
September 30 2006

In a session hampered by wet conditions WilliamsF1's Mark Webber would finish sixth fastest in the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix.. Team-mate Nico Rosberg would finish in eleventh, after been as high as second. It was an encouraging session for the team.

 
Chinese GP Saturday Practice
 

With Alex Wurz setting the fastest time in Friday practice with a best lap of 1m:35.539 the teams would start the final practice session for the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was forced to change his engine yesterday seeing him face a ten grid position penalty.

RosbergWith Overnight rain cleaning the circuit and leaving parts still wet the session would be declared wet and the start of the session would see Torro Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi coming out followed by Speed who was on full wets. It would look like intermediate tyres would be the best choice early in the session. Massa, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Sato, Trulli, Yamamoto would take to the track. Alonso would also head out as Liuzzi and Speed both pitted. Ralf would sets the first timed lap of the session. Nico Rosberg would come out for his first lap of the session.

Trulli would move into second from Nico in third. Button and Mark Webber would also leave the pit lane, while Speed went fastest in his Toro Rosso. But Button would move to the top of the times while Coulthard was now second of Speed, Rosberg and Webber. The times were ten seconds off the best from Friday. Speed would again move to the top of the times. Barrichello was now in fifth, while Robert Doornbos moved into second.

After his installation lap Massa was to pit but he was now back out and would move to the top of the times. McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa was out on the circuit. The track was continuing to dry starting but not enough to make dry tyres look the better option. With twenty minutes of the session run Trulli was the only driver on track, but even he would pit.

Tiago Monteiro would heads out in his Spyker MF1 Toyota, joined by Doornbos and Trulli with just thirty minutes of the session remaining. Coulthard would also come out as his team-mate Doornbos would spin his Red Bull. Coulthard would go fastest from Massa, Speed and Doornbos. Coulthard's time was a 1m:45.253. Doornbos would move into second with a 1m:45.434.

Mark was in sixth with a 1m:47.109 while Nico was now in tenth. With eighteen minutes remaining only Ralf and Liuzzi were on the circuit. Liuzzi would move into sixth with a 1m:46.846. Ralf was down in twelfth. The order was Coulthard from Doornbos, Massa, Speed, Button, Liuzzi, Mark, Albers, Barrichello, Trulli and in eleventh Nico. Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Heidfeld, and Kubica had yet to take to the track. Ralf was the first driver to try dry weather tyres and he really seemed to be struggling, with his times slower than those set on intermediates.

Now we had both Honda's come out with just twelve minutes remaining. Both were on drys and Rubens would spin at Turn one. Now both Ferrari's were on the circuit, Michael for the first time this session. Both Super Aguri drivers would also leave the pit lane. Ralf would improve to now be in fifth, 1m:46.023. With under ten minutes left the drivers need to get some track time. Barrichello would pit, joined by Ralf. Massa would spin his car coming out of the final turn. Yamamoto would move into eighth, 1m:46.850. Nico was now back out on the track, joined by de la Rosa.

Michael was down in sixteenth but he would put in a quick lap that would see him move into first with a time of 1m:43.048, to be 2.2 seconds ahead of Coulthard. Both Alonso and Fisichella had also come out. Sato was now in second, 1m:44.667, despite and error in the final corner. Button was now in second, 1m:44.322. There was now a flood of drivers coming out, including Mark, with just four minutes remaining. Sato would move back into second, 1m:43.722. Nico was now in fourth, 1m:44.636. De la Rosa was now third, 1m:43.910.

Mark was down in fifteenth as Michael improved his time with a 1m:41.259. But Nico would put in a great lap to see him move into second with a 1m:42.588. But such were the conditions that the times were quickly coming down. Albers was now second, 1m:42.216. Raikkonen would spin along with Massa would would have a second spin. Kimi was able to get his car out of the gravel. Mark was now in sixteenth. De la Rosa was now in second but Fisichella would move ahead of the McLaren driver.

On the final laps Mark would move into third and Button was now second. Both Liuzzi and Speed would move ahead of Mark and Alonso was now in second, 1m:40.365. Michael had improved his times ending with a 1m:40.193. So with the end of the session the order was Michael from Alonso, Button, Liuzzi, Speed, Mark, Albers, Fisichella, de la Rosa, and Coulthard in tenth. Nico was now in eleventh. Neither Kubica or Raikkonen would set a time in the session. Kubica would complete just one lap and Kimi just two.

Just how the poor weather conditions will affect qualifying is an unknown but it could turn out to be a factor that could produce an unusual grid fro the Chinese Grand Prix.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:40.193 8
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:40.365 7
 3.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:40.590 12
 4.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:40.795 9
 5.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:41.150 11
 6.  Webber        WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:41.287 10
 7.  Albers        Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:41.463 11
 8.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:41.691 6
 9.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:41.823 7
10.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:41.836 18
11.  Rosberg       WilliamsF1-Cosworth (B)  1:42.588 11
12.  Monteiro      Spyker MF1-Toyota   (B)  1:42.612 14
13.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:43.216 5
14.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:43.448 9
15.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:43.500 10
16.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:43.722 12
17.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:44.027 14
18.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:45.434 12
19.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:46.023 12
20.  Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:46.850 10
21.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)           1
22.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)           2
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