Third drivers dominate on day one 20 Oct 2006
...as title rivals keep a low profile - and Super Aguri shine
Alexander Wurz got his own back on Anthony Davidson in Friday afternoon’s second practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Austrian Williams driver set the fastest lap of 1m 12.547s to pip the Englishman’s 1m 12.653s best for Honda, thus reversing their relative morning positions around Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit.
Once again the drivers made best use of overcast but dry conditions, and as more rubber went down the times tumbled. Sebastian Vettel was again in the thick of things for BMW Sauber, setting the third best time of 1m 12.870s. Then there was a gap to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli (1m 13.483s) and Honda’s Jenson Button (1m 13.485s), and the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher in sixth place with 1m 13.713s. As usual, the former champion immediately set the pace on his first flier earlier in the session, but thereafter was satisfied to run at a consistent pace and appeared not to be going all out for times after a spin in Turn 9.
Brother Ralf was seventh for Toyota, with 1m 13.765s, followed by his newly signed 2007 Friday testing partner Franck Montagny, who pushed his Super Aguri round in an impressive 1m 13.792s to beat the McLarens of morning pacesetter Kimi Raikkonen (1m 13.803s) and Pedro de la Rosa (1m 13.926s), with Fernando Alonso’s Renault (1m 13.820s) in between.
Giancarlo Fisichella was only 12th as Renault focused on long runs, lapping his R26 in 1m 14.053s to head Honda’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 14.434s), Red Bull’s Michael Ammermuller (1m 14.436s), Spyker MF1’s Tiago Monteiro (1m 14.468s), BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica (1m 14.510s after spinning in Turn 9), Felipe Massa (1m 14.561s and another doing long runs) in the Ferrari, Nick Heidfeld (1m 14.793s) for BMW Sauber, Mark Webber’s Williams (1m 14.839s) and newcomer Ernesto Viso (1m 14.972s before his Spyker MF1 stopped out on the track).
The final bunch comprised Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato (1m 15.023s), Spyker MF1’s Christijan Albers (who spun before recording 1m 15.086s), Nico Rosberg (1m 15.124s on his first visit to Interlagos) in the Williams, Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 15.214s), Toro Rosso’s Tonio Liuzzi (1m 15.737s) and Scott Speed (1m 15.855s), and Red Bull’s Neel Jani (1m 15.868s, and another first timer). Finally, Robert Doornbos worked down to 1m 16.251s before his Red Bull stopped on the track, and Sakon Yamamoto spun his Super Aguri while trying to better 1m 18.321s.
