Oliver White
Ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, the teams have been pounding the Barcelona circuit in an attempt to fine tune their cars in preparation for qualifying tomorrow. Leading the pack in the first session was Lewis Hamilton for McLaren, displaying his good form has continued from the three fly away races. Fernando Alonso quickly followed his team mate, albeit 0.4s down the order. Kimi Raikkonen was close behind the title leader, and Robert Kubica managed a quick lap to force Felipe Massa down to fifth.
Anthony Davidson put in a strong performance in the first 90 minute session, placing his Super Aguri in sixth place and half a second faster than the next Honda powered car, Jenson Button in tenth. Both Toyota’s showed that their testing pace was not a fluke and Jarno Trulli placed himself in seventh while Ralf Schumacher followed in eighth. Williams ended the session in ninth and eleventh for Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz respectively, while Renault, Red Bull and Honda sadly fell down the pack.
Free Practice One:
1. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m21.880s
2. Alonso – McLaren – 1m22.268s
3. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m22.291s
4. Kubica – BMW – 1m22.446s
5. Massa – Ferrari – 1m22.565s
6. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m22.665s
7. Trulli – Toyota – 1m22.740s
8. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m22.843s
9. Rosberg – Williams – 1m23.048s
10. Button – Honda – 1m23.114s
11. Wurz – Williams – 1m23.131s
12. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m23.170s
13. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m23.316s
14. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m23.322s
15. Fisichella – Renault – 1m23.397s
16. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m23.428s
17. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m23.444s
18. Barrichello – Honda – 1m23.479s
19. Sutil – Spyker – 1m23.954s
20. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m24.104s
21. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m24.179s
22. Albers – Spyker – 1m24.396s
The second of the 90 minute sessions proved to be a little more interesting, with local hero Fernando Alonso going fastest much to the delight of the fans lining the circuit. Lewis could only manage fifth, though for most of the session he was tailing Alonso. His final lap saw a quick trip across the grass which resulted in him not being able to defend the final push from Renault. And push the Reggie boys did! From no where the Anglo-French team blasted up the order to finish in second and third, Fisichella getting the better of his Finnish team mate, Kovalainen. This late improvement forced Massa and Raikkonen down the pecking order, but in fairness to McLaren, it looks as though McLaren may have the upper hand thus far in the weekend.
Toyota fell from grace and ended up in seventeenth and eighteenth, this time Ralf managing to get ahead of Jarno. Super Aguri also fell behind, only finishing ahead of the floundering Spykers. BMW, Williams and Red Bull all yo-yo’d around the midfield, but it is likely that BMW will emerge stronger in tomorrows qualifying.
Practice Session Two
1. Alonso – McLaren – 1m21.397s
2. Fisichella – Renault – 1m21.684s
3. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m21.966s
4. Massa – Ferrari – 1m22.048s
5. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m22.188s
6. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m22.251s
7. Rosberg – Williams – 1m22.415s
8. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m22.543s
9. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m22.589s
10. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m22.617s
11. Kubica – BMW – 1m22.710s
12. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m22.719s
13. Button – Honda – 1m22.808s
14. Barrichello – Honda – 1m22.926s
15. Wurz – Williams – 1m22.950s
16. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m23.143s
17. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m23.219s
18. Trulli – Toyota – 1m23.307s
19. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m23.493s
20. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m23.497s
21. Sutil – Spyker – 1m23.609s
22. Albers – Spyker – 1m23.736s
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