Just another typical Friday

01/04/2005
NEWS STORY

As the cars prepare to go out for today's second free practice session, the air temperature has risen to 38 degrees C, and the track temperature 54 degrees.

First out is Robert Doornbos, followed by Liuzzi, Friesacher, Albers, Wurz and Sato.

Following the inactivity of the first session - particularly with regards the 'big guns' - we can expect a bit more 'action' in this session. At least we very much hope so.

Doornbos posts the benchmark but moments later this eclipsed by Wurz who laps the Sakhir circuit in 1:33.633.

Zonta goes second, Klien and Coulthard fourth and fifth, suddenly it's fast and furious, and we're only 7 minutes into the session.

Button goes third (1:33.911) only to be demoted by Kimi Raikkonen who goes straight to the top of the timesheets with a 1:33.297. Ralf Schumacher posts his first time of the day, a 1:34.769, which puts him seventh.

There are 17 cars on track as Fisichella goes ninth (1:35.093) and teammate Alonso goes fourth (1:33.788).

As Trulli goes ninth (1:35.038), teammate Zonta begins what looks to be a very fast lap, the Brazilian going quickest in the first sector. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher goes second with a 1:33.358, just 0.061s off Raikkonen's pace.

Trulli improves to fifth only to be demoted by de la Rosa who goes third with a 1:33.387, which means the top 3 - Raikkonen, Schumacher and de la Rosa - are covered by 0.090.

Another improvement sees Trulli go quickest with a 1:33.295, eclipsing Raikkonen by just two-thousandths of a second.

Fifteen minutes into the session and it's: Trulli, Raikkonen, Michael, de la Rosa, Zonta, Wurz, Ralf, Alonso, Button and Klien. Only Massa, Barrichello and Webber have yet to post a time.

Wurz begins a hot lap, the Austrian going a full second quicker than anyone else in the first sector. He's still quickest in the second sector, going on to cross the line at 1:30.695, that's only slightly off lat year's pole time (1:30.139).

Felipe Massa goes seventh with a 1:33.726 as teammate Villeneuve languishes in seventeenth. The Canadian really does need a good result, and soon.

As Alonso and Button are on 'hot' laps, Coulthard goes seventh, leapfrogging Massa. Moments later, Alonso goes second (1:33.000), albeit 2.3s off Wurz' pace.

Jenson Button goes fifth (1:33.302), while teammate Sato is back in seventeenth, despite having completed the same amount of laps (7).

With almost thirty minutes gone, the session slips into one of those limbo-like periods where nothing appears to happen and the order hardly changes. At which point Mark Webber leaves the WilliamsF1 pit - he and Barrichello being the only drivers that have yet to post a time. The Ferrari driver appears to have a gearbox problem.

Sato's session appears to be over, he stops in the second sector.

Webber posts 1:34.384 to go fifteenth, one place behind his teammate. Meanwhile, former WilliamsF1 star Ralf Schumacher goes third with a 1:33.246. That's still 2.55s off Wurz' wonder time.

Not to be left out, brother Michael improves, to fourth, though he too is unable to make a dent in Wurz' time. Next time around the German goes third as Alonso closes the gap to Wurz with a 1:32.217.

Montoya stand-in, Pedro de la Rosa, goes third, ahead of the Schumacher siblings, as Karthikeyan goes sixteenth.

Jenson Button improves to fourth, the Englishman posting a 1:33.037.

Therefore, with just under 20 minutes remaining: Wurz is quickest, ahead of Alonso, de la Rosa, Button, Michael, Ralf, Trulli, Raikkonen, Klien and Zonta.

With both WilliamsF1 drivers over 3.2s off the pace, one begins to wonder if this is an April Fool joke that has gone awry.

Fastest man through the speed-trap at present is de la Rosa, at 204 mph.

Michael goes fourth with a 1:32.901, as Liuzzi improves to eighteenth, right behind Villeneuve. Karthikeyan and Doornbos are ahead of both of them.

There's another lull, until Wurz takes to the track once again, can he possibly improve on his previous best?

Webber improves his time but remains a disappointing fifteenth, though Heidfeld at least manages to climb to twelfth.

With nine minutes remaining, more and more cars leave the pits, ready for the final assault.

Alonso is on a good lap finally crossing the line at 1:31.969, closing the gap to Wurz to 1.274s.

Fisichella improves to sixth, ahead of Raikkonen, as, from out of nowhere, Liuzzi produces a 1:32.319 to go third. That really did come out of nothing, incredible.

Meanwhile, the Ferrari mechanics continue to work on Barrichello's car, not the greatest of debuts for the F2005 after all, though Schumacher isn't doing too badly.

Once again - how many times has this happened this year? - a driver whose session appeared to be over, having become stuck in the gravel, or pushed off track, has somehow got back to the pits and (eventually) been able to continue. Sato, the man in question, goes twelfth with a 1:33.205.

The session ends and, once again, it's difficult to read anything into it. Alexander Wurz' 1:30.695 was absolutely sensational, but clearly it has no real significance for nobody else came close - other than Alonso, who got to within 1.274.

However, the pack behind the Austrian seems fairly evenly matched, with Alonso, Liuzzi, de la Rosa, Michael, Trulli, Fisichella, Raikkonen, Button and Ralf all within a second of one another.

Other than Barrichello's Ferrari, the real disappointments thus far are the WilliamsF1s and the Saubers, with both Massa and Villeneuve well off the pace. Also, other than Liuzzi - that was a fantastic lap - Red Bull drivers Coulthard and Klien don't look too early.

Anyway, let's not get too carried away, as the various team press releases are sure to remind us, this is just a "typical Friday".

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Published: 01/04/2005
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