22/04/2006
NEWS STORY
There is just a short time to go before one of the most important events on the 2006 sporting calendar gets underway, we refer, or course, to a certain soccer match at Highbury, where (hopefully), Tottenham can maintain their Premier League advantage over their rivals.
In the meantime, we have today's free practice session. The air temperature is 24 degrees C, while the track temperature is 28 degrees.
The lights go green and Tiago Monteiro is first out, followed by Albers, Sato, Liuzzi and Ide.
Ide spins at the Variante Alta, the Japanese driver still getting to grips - no pun intended - with both the Imola circuit and F1 power. Nonetheless, he is able to continue.
Ralf Schumacher looks set to be the first driver to post a time, indeed, the German crosses the line at 1:28.374.
Next time around the German posts 1:27.910, other than Ide (32.166), his is the only time on the timesheets.
Eight minutes into the session, Barrichello and Button leave the Honda garage. Jarno Trulli is also on track.
Ralf is still on track, having completed 7 laps, he goes quickest in the first sector. Despite going quickest in the final sector, the German fails to improve, having made a minor mistake in the second sector.
Button goes second (29.278), ahead of Monteiro, Barrichello, Ide and Trulli. Massa, Villeneuve and speed are all on track.
Massa is on a hot lap, as is Trulli, the Brazilian crosses the line at 1:27.437, as the Italian slots into second. However, Villeneuve is on a hot lap, having gone quickest in the first sector. His third sector is poor however, and he can only manage a 1:33.487.
As Button improves to second and then to first, edging out the ever improving Massa by 0.007s. However, next time around the Brazilian improves to 1:26.369, as Trulli and Villeneuve go second and third. As you can tell, the pace is frantic.
Montoya, Coulthard and Klien are now on track, as Button re-takes third spot from Villeneuve with a 27.172.
Kimi Raikkonen heads down the pitlane, followed by Fisichella and Alonso.
Christian Klien goes fifth, having gone quickest of all in the final sector. Moments later however, he's demoted by Raikkonen, who goes third (27.145).
Alonso posts a 1:26.880 to go second, as Klien improves to fourth. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher is now on track, along with Webber and Montoya he is the only driver who hasn't posted a time.
Liuzzi spins at Variante Alta, and is lucky not to be hit by Schumacher, who goes on to post a 26.723, which puts him second, behind his teammate. Moments later however, Alonso goes quickest with a 26.140.
Michael goes quickest in the first two sectors, and again in the third, finally crossing the line over a second quicker than the reigning World Champion. Elsewhere, Ralf goes quickest in the first sector.
Coming up to half-time, it's Michael, Alonso, Massa, Heidfeld, Trulli, Klien, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Button and Speed.
Ralf takes the top spot with a 1:24.924, and immediately goes quickest in the first sector. Thus far, the German has completed more laps (12) than anyone else. He improves to 1:24.667.
Jenson Button improves to seventh, as Webber finally posts a time (28.350), which puts him nineteenth.
Jarno Trulli goes fifth, having made a mistake in the second sector, as Michael Schumacher begins a hot lap. The German goes quickest in the first sector, and again in the second. He crosses the line at 1:23.787, outpacing his brother by 0.880s.
From out of nowhere, Liuzzi, in the Toro Rosso, nee Red Bull, nee Jaguar, goes fifth, with a 25.877. Meanwhile, Button completes his fifteenth lap of the session, other than Ralf Schumacher, the busiest man this morning.
Fernando Alonso improves (24.813), but remains third, over a second off Michael's pace. David Coulthard goes sixth (26.433).
Thus far, a disappointing session for McLaren, with Montoya still in the pits with a fuel pump problem and Raikkonen in fifteenth, 3.3s off the pace.
Felipe Massa takes second spot (24.383), which gives Ferrari a 1-2, and Bridgestone a 1-2-3.
Kimi Raikkonen posts a 1:25.218, to go fifth, as Barrichello, Button and Rosberg leave the pits. Next time around, Raikkonen improves to third, albeit 0.839s off Michael's pace.
Barrichello goes sixth (25.041), ahead of Liuzzi and Speed.
The yellow flags come out as Rosberg goes off at the approach to Tosa, giving the barriers quite a thump. The left-front of the car is wrecked, but the German is out of the car, only his pride damaged. With Webber seventeenth quickest, it's not been a good session for the Grove team.
Giancarlo Fisichella goes second with a 1:24.377, as Ide improves to within 0.1s of his teammate Takuma Sato.
Alonso goes quickest in the first sector but loses time in the second. The Spaniard loses time in the final sector, hampered slightly by Schumacher, as Liuzzi and Ide both have minor offs.
Next time around, Alonso improves with a 1:24.068, to go second, just 0.281s off Schumacher's best.
Felipe Massa is on a hot lap, as is Webber, who improves to twelfth.
Michael goes quickest in the first sector, but loses pace in the second, which is where everyone appears to be having problems.
The sessi0n ends with Schumacher quickest, ahead of Alonso, Fisichella, Massa, Raikkonen, Ralf, Button, Villeneuve, Klien and Liuzzi.
Barrichello is eleventh, ahead of Webber, Coulthard, Speed, Heidfeld, Albers, Trulli, Monteiro, Rosberg, Sato, Ide and Montoya, who didn't post a time.
With the top seven covered by just over a second, and Michael on the verge of surpassing Ayrton Senna's long-standing record of pole positions - at Imola of all places - we could be in for a dramatic afternoon... and not just at Highbury.