By Catfish
September 10 2006

Both Renault drivers left it late to post their best times of the final practice session on a circuit with limited grip due to the heavy overnight rain. Both Renault drivers left it late to post their best times of the final practice session on a circuit with limited grip due to the heavy overnight rain. Fernando posted a 5th fastest 1.22:371 marginally quicker than Fisi in 6th with a 1.22:412 after both had looked to be struggling to stay in the top ten earlier on. They were just over 7 tenths shy of Massa’s Ferrari and behind both BMW’s with no sign of any more rain as the qualifying session began under clear blue skies with a track temperature of 41 degrees.

The first session was red flagged after only five minutes following Yamamoto’s tyre failure and before any of the front runners had posted a time but Massa immediately posted a 1.22:028 at the restart quickly followed by Schumacher with 1.21:726. It was looking like a Ferrari benefit very early on before Fernando put in his first timed lap with just over 3 minutes remaining and was only a fraction shy of the Germans’ time to go second quickest. Fisi could manage only 9th with a 1.22.486 but completed only one quick lap whilst the first major casualty was Mark Webber who joined the Midlands and Super Aguris in the first round ‘sin bin’ along with Tonio Luizzi.

Both Renualt’s appeared early in the second session keen to post a ‘safe’ time and Fernando knocked Kubica off the top spot almost immediately with a 1.21526. Fisi managed only fourth behind both BMW’s and was potentially in danger of missing the final cut if he didn’t improve on his 1.21:912. He was quickly knocked down to 9th as Raikkonen and both Hondas added decent times but just managed to hang on as DeLa Rosa failed marginally to better his time as the flag dropped. Massa headed the times for Ferrari once again with a 1.21:225 whilst Fernando looked comfortable enough in 6th by the end of the session without having to complete another lap. Jarno Trulli just missed the cut in his home grand prix and will start from 11th place with Ralf Schumacher only 13th. The times in the second session were uncomfortably close with only 7 tenths between Massa and 10th placed Pedro DeLaRosa.

The fuel burning session began with Button showing quickest in the early stages and Fernando having a scary moment as he chased Michael Schumacher. He missed the first chicane and went straight off onto the exit strip with a right rear puncture. Fisi and Fernando are only 8th and 9th at this stage and it remained to be seen how long it would take the team to repair Fernando’s car which looked to be losing some pieces of bodywork as he returned to the pits. In the last few minutes provisional pole position changed hands several times with Schumacher taking over from Massa and Raikkonen whilst Renault looked to be in trouble. They could not repair the damage to Fernado’s car whilst Fisi failed to even start a second quick run and ended up a very disappointing 10th. Fernando did manage a late flying lap and improved to salvage an excellent 5th place in the dying seconds whilst Kimi Raikkonen stole pole position from his potential new employers by just two thousandths.

Not a great session for Renault in spite of Fernando’s brilliant effort whilst driving ‘half a car’ whilst Fisi’s performance in his home GP was far from impressive unless he has a problem or a very heavy fuel load. With both Massa and Heidfeld in between Fernando and Michael and Fisi not even in a position to help it promises to be an uphill struggle tomorrow. The situation could possibly be even worse if the stewards decision to summon the Renault No1 for the alleged blocking of Felipe Massa on his final flying lap translates into another penalty.






1. 3 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'21"484 255.937 Km/h 0
2. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'21"486 255.931 Km/h 0
3. 16 HEIDFELD BMW Sauber M 1'21"653 255.408 Km/h 0
4. 6 MASSA Ferrari B 1'21"704 255.248 Km/h 0
5. 1 ALONSO Renault M 1'21"829 254.858 Km/h 0
6. 12 BUTTON Honda M 1'22"011 254.293 Km/h 0
7. 17 KUBICA BMW Sauber M 1'22"258 253.529 Km/h 0
8. 4 DE LA ROSA McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"280 253.461 Km/h 0
9. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda M 1'22"787 251.909 Km/h 0
10. 2 FISICHELLA Renault M 1'23"175 250.734 Km/h 0

11. 8 TRULLI Toyota B 1'21"924 254.563 Km/h 0
12. 10 ROSBERG Williams Cosworth B 1'22"203 253.699 Km/h 0
13. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota B 1'22"280 253.461 Km/h 0
14. 14 COULTHARD RedBull Ferrari M 1'22"589 252.513 Km/h 0
15. 21 SPEED Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'23"165 250.764 Km/h 0
16. 15 KLIEN RedBull Ferrari M 0'00"000 0

17. 20 LIUZZI Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'23"043 251.133 Km/h 0
18. 19 ALBERS Midland Toyota B 1'23"116 250.912 Km/h 0
19. 9 WEBBER Williams Cosworth B 1'23"341 250.235 Km/h 0
20. 18 MONTEIRO Midland Toyota B 1'23"920 248.508 Km/h 0
21. 22 SATO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'24"289 247.420 Km/h 0
22. 23 YAMAMOTO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'26"001 242.495 Km/h 0