Toyota top final practice in Spain 07 May 2005
Toyota's Ralf Schumacher edged out the two McLarens ahead of first qualifying at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday.
Kimi Raikkonen was the first man to lap beneath 1m 15s this weekend as lap times came tumbling down as teams used the final two practice sessions to hone their cars for low-fuel qualifying this afternoon.
The Finn took his McLaren round in 1m 14.462s, but the fastest man of the morning was ultimately Schumacher, who pushed his TF105 to 1m 14.280s. Juan Pablo Montoya showed that he is suffering no harm after yesterday’s shunt, by recording 1m 14.672s in the second McLaren, and last-minute improver Mark Webber banged in 1m 14.689s for Williams after sitting out yesterday to conserve a new BMW V10.
Fernando Alonso limited his lappery, but was ‘Schumacheresque’ when he came out partway through the second session and went fastest on 1m 15.030s on his first flying lap. That would be good enough for fifth overall, with Renault team mate Giancarlo Fisichella having a better run than of late to take sixth right in his wheel tracks on 1m 15.048s.
Nick Heidfeld was seventh for Williams on 1m 15.253s, from Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 15.339s), the Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello (1m 15.374s) and Michael Schumacher (1m 15.378s, after a spin in Turn 5 the first session), Sauber’s Felipe Massa (1m 15.511s) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (1m 15.546s) in the second Red Bull.
Jacques Villeneuve wasn’t as happy with his Sauber as his team mate and was 14th on 1m 16.291s, then came the Jordan duo, with Narain Karthikeyan pipping Tiago Monteiro, 1m 17.569s to 1m 17.848s. The Portuguese driver spun in Turn 3.
Minardi’s Christijan Albers was off track again in the first session, but made amends with a lap of 1m 19.031s in the second, just ahead of team mate Patrick Friesacher on 1m 19.296s.
Clearly, some teams did not do low fuel runs this morning, while others did more race running, so right now it is impossible to predict this afternoon’s likely order. Expect the times to be very close, though.
