By Nick Sparkes
May 5 2006

All the chatter about the European Grand Prix weekend taking place under grey skies with huge hailstones hitting the tarmac came to nothing during the first two sessions of Friday Free Practice. With the sun bursting through, Toyota got to work on their day’s programme. Friday – First Session

As ever, the first session saw little running, with Toyota only completing a handful of laps with Ralf Schumacher, with Jarno Trulli completing one installation lap. Both Toyota’s suffered with vibration problems leaving the mechanics with plenty of work to do before the next session. If times count for anything in this session, Ralf was ninth fastest, only a few tenths ahead of Adrian Sutil in the Toyota powered Midland F1, who on this Formula One debut put in some impressive times to finish ahead of his team-mates Albers and Monteiro. Alex Wurz was top dog in his Williams, finishing ahead of fellow Friday testers Davidson and Kubica. Michael Schumacher was the fastest race driver in fourth.

1	A. Wurz		Williams		1:32.079	20
2	A. Davidson		Honda		1:32.399	29
3	R. Kubica		BMW		1:32.852	22
4	M. Schumacher		Ferrari		1:32.858	4
5	R. Doornbos		Red Bull		1:32.944	19
6	J. Button		Hond		1:33.635	7
7	R. Barrichello		Honda		1:34.213	6
8	K. Räikkönen		McLaren		1:34.402	5
9	R. Schumacher		Toyota		1:34.995	6
10	A. Sutil		Midland F1		1:35.332	21
11	N. Jani		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:35.365	19
12	S. Speed		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:35.612	8
13	C. Albers		Midland F1		1:35.985	8
14	T. Monteiro		Midland F1		1:36.062	10
15	T. Sato		Super Aguri		1:37.817	20
16	F. Montagny		Super Aguri		1:37.933	16
17	F. Alonso		Renault		no time	2
18	G. Fisichella		Renault		no time	2
19	J. Trulli		Toyota		no time	1
20	JP. Montoya		McLaren		no time	1
21	C. Klien		Red Bull		no time	1
22	D. Coulthard		Red Bull		no time	1
23	V. Liuzzi		Scuderia Toro Rosso		no time	2
24	F. Massa		Ferrari		no time
25	M. Webber		Williams		no time
26	N. Rosberg		Williams		no time
27	N. Heidfeld		BMW		no time
28	J. Villeneuve		BMW		no time

Friday – Second Session

The second session saw a bit more activity, but Alex Wurz continued to lead the way for Williams. Wurz was almost a second clear of championship leader Alonso in second, who was followed home by Imola rival Michael Schumacher. Jarno Trulli’s run of bad luck continued with the Italian forced to sit out the session after the team weren’t able to solve his vibration problem from the first session. Likewise Ralf Schumacher was able to complete his programme, finishing sixth ahead of Button, Kubica and Fisichella. Adrian Sutil continued to impress, finishing tenth again ahead of both of the Williams, McLaren and BMW-Sauber race drivers.

1	A. Wurz		Williams		1:32.675	27
2	F. Alonso		Renault		1:33.579	14
3	M. Schumacher		Ferrari		1:33.619	14
4	R. Doornbos		Red Bull		1:33.799	25
5	A. Davidson		Honda		1:33.870	29
6	R. Schumacher		Toyota		1:33.883	19
7	J. Button		Honda		1:33.920	12
8	R. Kubica		BMW		1:33.991	30
9	G. Fisichella		Renault		1:34.030	19
10	A. Sutil		Midland F1		1:34.179	23
11	N. Rosberg		Williams		1:34.215	19
12	C. Albers		Midland F1		1:34.472	23
13	K. Räikkönen		McLaren		1:34.536	13
14	F. Massa		Ferrari		1:34.546	18
15	R. Barrichello		Honda		1:34.631	11
16	M. Webber		Williams		1:34.825	14
17	JP. Montoya		McLaren		1:34.968	14
18	C. Klien		Red Bull		1:35.066	19
19	D. Coulthard		Red Bull		1:35.241	14
20	N. Heidfeld		BMW		1:35.308	12
21	V. Liuzzi		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:35.406	19
22	N. Jani		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:35.479	26
23	S. Speed		Scuderia Toro Rosso		1:35.669	21
24	J. Villeneuve		BMW		1:35.688	12
25	T. Monteiro		Midland F1		1:35.902	18
26	T. Sato		Super Aguri		1:36.255	25
27	F. Montagny		Super Aguri		1:36.665	16
28	J. Trulli		Toyota		no time	5