By Nick Sparkes
March 10 2006

The first practice session of the year is always like the first day back at school. After a hard winter, the teams and drivers had their first opportunity to see where they are in relation to everybody else. For Toyota, it was a day near the bottom of the time sheets. Friday – First Session

The dusty Bahrain track forced many teams to sit out the first session, including Toyota. Gone is the running of Ricardo Zonta, who last year did the bulk of the work during Friday. This is because the team finished in the top four last season, meaning that for 2006 it will be the job of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli to complete all of the days activities. With both drivers electing to sit out the session, not much happened. BMW-Sauber third driver Robert Kubica finished the first session of the year fastest, ahead of Alex Wurz doing his Friday duties for Williams.

1	R. Kubica	BMW	1:32.170	20
2	A. Wurz	Williams	1:32.184	18
3	K. Räikkönen	McLaren	1:33.388	6
4	M. Schumacher	Ferrari	1:33.469	5
5	C. Klien	Red Bull	1:34.800	6
6	N. Jani	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:34.831	15
7	JP. Montoya	McLaren	1:34.887	6
8	F. Massa	Ferrari	1:34.925	6
9	D. Coulthard	Red Bull	1:35.017	4
10	V. Liuzzi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:35.083	8
11	R. Doornbos	Red Bull	1:35.203	15
12	S. Speed	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:35.371	7
13	T. Monteiro	Midland F1	1:36.542	9
14	C. Albers	Midland F1	1:36.930	9
15	Markus Winkelhock	Midland F1	1:37.918	16
16	T. Sato	Super Aguri	1:38.190	15
17	Y. Ide	Super Aguri	1:40.782	15
18	A. Davidson	Honda	no time	2
19	F. Alonso	Renault	no time	2
20	G. Fisichella	Renault	no time	2
21	J. Trulli	Toyota	no time	2
22	R. Schumacher	Toyota	no time	1
23	N. Heidfeld	BMW	no time	1
24	J. Villeneuve	BMW	no time	1
25	M. Webber	Williams	no time
26	N. Rosberg	Williams	no time
27	R. Barrichello	Honda	no time
28	J. Button	Honda	no time

Friday – Second Session

Just like the first session, the dusty Bahrain track didn’t give the drivers a real feel for circuit. But the majority of the drivers completed a healthy number of laps with their all new V8 engines. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher ended the session twenty second and twenty fourth respectively, with Jarno suffering a small electronics problem towards the end of the session. The times might not had been what Toyota had hoped, but with track conditions yet to be ideal, and with the team still learning about the new dimensions of their upgraded TF106 as well as Bridgestone tyres the team could be satisfied with the days running. Upfront Anthony Davidson laid down his 2004 trademark of being first on Friday, with Michael Schumacher the fastest race driver in second.

1	A. Davidson	Honda	1:31.353	28
2	M. Schumacher	Ferrari	1:31.751	15
3	A. Wurz	Williams	1:31.764	27
4	F. Massa	Ferrari	1:32.175	13
5	F. Alonso	Renault	1:32.538	13
6	V. Liuzzi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:32.703	24
7	R. Doornbos	Red Bull	1:32.926	24
8	G. Fisichella	Renault	1:33.215	14
9	J. Button	Honda	1:33.226	12
10	R. Kubica	BMW	1:33.244	26
11	C. Klien	Red Bull	1:33.557	8
12	K. Räikkönen	McLaren	1:33.577	11
13	JP. Montoya	McLaren	1:33.726	15
14	N. Heidfeld	BMW	1:33.848	9
15	N. Jani	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:33.900	24
16	S. Speed	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:34.284	22
17	M. Webber	Williams	1:34.333	5
18	R. Barrichello	Honda	1:34.384	9
19	D. Coulthard	Red Bull	1:34.432	7
20	T. Monteiro	Midland F1	1:34.459	14
21	N. Rosberg	Williams	1:34.953	5
22	R. Schumacher	Toyota	1:35.170	18
23	Markus Winkelhock	Midland F1	1:35.686	24
24	J. Trulli	Toyota	1:35.898	11
25	J. Villeneuve	BMW	1:36.264	8
26	C. Albers	Midland F1	1:36.314	16
27	T. Sato	Super Aguri	1:37.588	19
28	Y. Ide	Super Aguri	1:39.021	21