WilliamsF1 8th & 9th in 2nd Saturday practice


Mark in 9th

By Andrew Hooepr
March 19 2005

The BMW WilliamsF1 drivers would finish 8th & 9th in 2nd Saturday practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Nick would again beat Mark in the times. Both drivers would again limit their track time with Nick only coming out in the final minutes of the session.

 
Malaysian GP Saturday 2nd Practice
 

I was again a session that would see both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers limit their track time, so much so that Nick Heidfeld would only come out in the final minutes to set his time. Nick and Mark would finish in eighth and ninth [positions respectively, but it certainly looked like both were having a difficult time in the lead up to this afternoon's qualifying.

Nick spent a considerable time in the pitsThe opening Saturday practice would see Renault's Fernando Alonso was fastest, with Michael Schumacher second, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen. Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber were in ninth and tenth after a very quite session from the pair with both drivers limiting their track times. The second Saturday session would see Ralf would first, joined by other drivers including Kimi Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli. So far the fastest time has been set by Ricardo Zonta with a 1m:34.092.

Ralf would set the first time of the session with a 1m:36.027. Montoya was also out on the track. Ralf would improve with a 1m:35.507. But Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:35.301, while Ralf's team-mate Jarno Trulli was now in second with a 1m:35.366. Raikkonen would improve with a 1m:34.644, the fastest time so far on Saturday.

Montoya was now in second with a 1m:35.204. Alonso would take this spot from Juan Pablo with a time of 1m:34.805. With ten minutes of the session run Trulli would beat the Spaniard to now be in second with a time of 1m:35.137. Montoya would improve to be third. But Alonso would set a very quick time of 1m:34.312 to move to the top of the times. BAR's new man Davidson records a 1:37.704 to now be in sixth. But Coulthard would move ahead with a 1m:35.907.

Michael Schumacher was now fastest with a time of 1m:34.102. Fisichella moved into fifth with a 1m:35.053. Coulthard would take his RB1 across the gravel. Fisichella would join him but he was not able to get out of the gravel. His Renault would lose its front wing as well as other damage seeing Giancarlo's session come to an end. This would see the Red flags come out for a short time but the session was quickly recommenced with just over twenty minutes remaining.

HeidfeldMark Webber would take to the track ad would moves up to ninth with a 1m:36.344. Team-mate Nick was yet to set a time. For Toyota's Jarno Trulli he would start a lap that would see him set a stunning time of 1m:32.832, to go fastest by a considerable margin. Raikkonen would seta time of 1m:33.349. The times were certainly falling as the drivers prepared for this afternoons qualifying.

Coulthard was now in third with a 1m:33.092. Toyota must have been happy as Ralf would join Trulli at the top of the times with a time of 1:32.951 to now be in second. Last years pole time was a 1m:33.074, so much for slowing the cars down. Alonso would try to beat the time of Trulli but would finish his lap with a 1m:32.880 to be in second.

Red Bull would show that things are still look very encouraging as Klein would move into second with a 1m:32.870. Montoya was in seventh with a 1m:33.689. Barrichello would come out joined by Sauber's Felipe Massa. The only driver yet to take to the circuit was Jenson Button. It was thought that he was having his engine changed. Mass would move into ninth with a 1m:34.002. Barrichello was in ninth with a 1m:33.943.

With around five minutes remaining drivers would start to come to to make their final runs prior to qualifying. Villeneuve was down in thirteenth with a time of 1m:35.627. Mark Webber was down in fourteenth, while Nick was still yet to set a time. Mark would take to the track for his final laps. he would be joined by Nick who was taking to the track for the first time in the session. Mark was now in eighth with a 1m:33.517, setting the fastest final sector time. Nick would just move ahead of Mark with a time of 1m:33.468 to see the pair eighth and ninth as the session ended.

But the session would finish with little changed at the top with Trulli fastest from Klein and Alonso. Button did not set a time.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                   Time     Laps
 1.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:32.832 12
 2.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:32.870 9
 3.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:32.880 11
 4.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:32.951 11
 5.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:33.092 10
 6.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:33.194 8
 7.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:33.349 12
 8.  Heidfeld      WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  1:33.468 5
 9.  Webber        WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  1:33.517 10
10.  Davidson      BAR-Honda         (M)  1:33.580 15
11.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:33.689 10
12.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:33.943 11
13.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:34.002 10
14.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:34.102 10
15.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:35.532 9
16.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:37.824 10
17.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:38.126 8
18.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:38.673 12
19.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:38.974 12
20.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  No Time
 
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