By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
September 9 2006

Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher as usual did very little running in Friday practice for this weekends Italian Grand Prix at the historical Monza circuit.

Practice 1:

Both Jarno and Ralf did not set lap times in this session and both did 2 installation laps. Continuing to impress, BMW-Sauber third driver Sebastaian Vettel topped the time sheets as he did 2 weeks ago in Turkey. Vettel finsihed ahead of BMW-Sauber race driver Robert Kubica while Williams tester and newly promoted race driver for next season Alex Wurz was third.

Honda third driver Anthony Davidson was debuting the '07 V8 spec Honda engine and only managed a handful of laps before his engine let go in a spectacular fashion. Fortunatly for Davidson and Honda he could change his engine for the second practice session. Only 6 race drivers set times in the first session, they were Kimi Raikkonen in the Mcalren, Kubica in the BMW-Sauber, the Midlands of Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers and Takuma Sato & Sakon Yamamoto in the Super Aguri's.

Midland F1's third driver Giorgio Mondini bought up the rear of the cars that set laps.

Italian GP free practice session 1 times

1.  S.VETTEL     BMW-Sauber        1m23.363s
2.  R.KUBICA   BMW-Sauber  1m23.745s
3.  A.WURZ          Williams    1m23.868s
4.  K.RAIKKONEN     McLaren     1m24.037s
5.  N.JANI          Toro Rosso  1m24.196s
6.  T.MONTEIRO      Midland     1m25.413s
7.  R.DOORNBOS      Red Bull    1m25.578s
8.  C.ALBERS        Midland     1m25.766s
9.  T.SATO          Super Aguri 1m26.708s
10. S.YAMAMOTO      Super Aguri 1m27.310
11. F.MONTAGNY      Super Aguri 1m27.597s
12. G.MONDINI       Midland     1m28.444s
13. A.DAVIDSON      Honda       no time
14. P.DE LA ROSA    Mclaren     no time
15. F.MASSA         Ferrari     no time
16. J.TRULLI        Toyota      no time
17. N.HEIDFELD      BMW-Sauber no time
18. R SCHUMACHER  Toyota      no time
19. V.LIUZZI        Toro Rosso  no time
20. S.SPEED         Toro Rosso  no time
21. N.ROSBERG       Williams    no time
22. M.WEBBER        Williams    no time
23. C.KLIEN         Red Bull    no time
24. D.COULTHARD     Red Bull    no time
25. F.ALONSO        Renault     no time
26. G.FISICHELLA    Renault     no time
27. M.SCHUMACHER  Ferrari     no time
28. R.BARRICHELLO   Honda       no time
29. J.BUTTON        Honda       no time

 

Practice 2:

Both Jarno and Ralf set times in the second practice session, with Jarno finishing 12th on a best time of 1m25.027 and Ralf finishing 17th with a best of 1m25.316.

Honda third driver Anthony Davidson had, remarkably, his second engine failure in a day just minutes into the session. The Monza circuit can be a car breaker but Honda must be worried about Race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello's chnaces this weekends judging by Davidsons practice session. As a result both Button and Barrichello did not set times in the session.

BMW-Sauber third driver Sebastian Vettel continued to impress in the second session. The Formula 3 Euroseries driver topped the time sheets with a best time of 1m22.631, ahead of Ferrari drivers of Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. A lot of hype is surronding the Ferrari team this weekend with an announcement on their race drivers and importantly the announcement of whether Michael Schumacher will retire.....or will he?

Finishing top race driver in the second session was a good start for Schumacher and he looks favourite to take victory this weekend. It would be a brave man to bet against him. His championship rival, and regining World Champion Fernando Alonso finsihed 8th in his Renault with a best time of 1m24.577. Its still only friday practice and a lot can still happnen this weekend. Its shaping up to be another great Italian Grand Prix at Monza!

Italian GP free practice session 2 times

1.  VETTEL        BMW-Sauber   1m22.631s
2.  M.SCHUMACHER  Ferrari     1m23.138s
3.  MASSA         Ferrari     1m23.182s
4.  WURZ          Williams    1m23.414s
5.  DE LA ROSA    Mclaren     1m23.970s
6.  RAIKKONEN     McLaren     1m24.034s
7.  HEIDFELD      BMW-Sauber   1m24.330s
8.  ALONSO        Renault     1m24.577s
9.  KUBICA        BMW-Sauber  1m24.813s
10. MONTAGNY      Super Aguri 1m24.943s
11. ALBERS        Midland     1m24.985s
12. TRULLI        Toyota      1m25.027s
13. ROSBERG       Williams    1m25.040s
14. KLIEN         Red Bull    1m25.108s
15. FISICHELLA    Renault     1m25.160s
16. MONTEIRO      Midland     1m25.277s
17. R SCHUMACHER  Toyota      1m25.316s
18. COULTHARD     Red Bull    1m25.318s
19. DAVIDSON      Honda       1m25.356s
20. WEBBER        Williams    1m25.500s
21. MONDINI       Midland     1m25.586s
22. LIUZZI        Toro Rosso  1m25.707s
23. SPEED         Toro Rosso  1m25.755s
24. JANI          Toro Rosso  1m25.878s
25. DOORNBOS      Red Bull    1m26.058s
26. SATO          Super Aguri 1m26.118s
27. YAMAMOTO      Super Aguri 1m26.705s
28. BARRICHELLO   Honda       no time
29. BUTTON        Honda       no time