By Huw Alban
August 25 2006

Midland F1 Racing improved their gap to the front of the pack during the second free practice session, with Giorgio Mondini setting a time only 1.6 seconds off the pace. Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro, in contrast seemed to be struggling towards the bottom of the timesheets.

All three MF1 drivers made an early appearance in the second session, although again it was Giorgio Mondini that put in the majority of the miles for the team. Despite setting green sector times throughout the session, it looked a little glum for the MF1 boys until Mondini put in a scorching time with around 15 minutes of the session remaining. This time placed him 6th and only 0.6 seconds off the pace at this in the session.

Unfortuately everyone else chose that time to improve as well, and 6th rapidly became 11th with the gap increasing to 1.6 seconds. Still it was a good show from Mondini, and definitely gives us all hope for the third and final free practice and the qualifying sessions too.

Full timesheet from the Second Free Practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix:

1 Sebastian Vettel Sauber-BMW 1:28.091
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:28.164
3 Jenson Button Honda 1:28.506
4 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:28.598
5 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:28.614
6 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:28.819
7 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:28.848
8 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.042
9 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.112
10 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:29.214
11 Giorgio Mondini MF1-Toyota 1:29.719
12 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:29.741
13 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth 1:29.858
14 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:29.890
15 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:30.006
16 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:30.491
17 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:30.502
18 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:30.504
19 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:30.509
20 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:30.551
21 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:30.775
22 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:30.889
23 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:31.015
24 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:31.091
25 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 1:31.316
26 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:31.519
27 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:31.526
28 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:31.540
29 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:32.102

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