Off the
Autosport Site
Sebastian Vettel of Germany topped the times in Friday morning's opening free practice session for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, the 19-year-old driver clocking a best time of 1:23.263 in his BMW Sauber.
Vettel, the youngest driver to take part in a Formula One meeting when he drove at the Turkish Grand Prix two weeks ago, finished the session 0.4 seconds clear of his nearest rival and teammate Poland's Robert Kubica.
Austrian Alexander Wurz, in a Williams, was third fastest ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen in a McLaren. Swiss Neel Jani was fifth for Scuderia Toro Rosso and Portuguese Tiago Monteiro was sixth for Midland.
On another hot day, the session began amid air temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and with a track temperature of 34 degrees.
The stands were more than half full on the main straight where a large red banner was draped across the railings. It read "Schumy + Ferrari = Amore Eterno". The message was clear and the story of the weekend easy to understand.
The session was interrupted and stopped after only two minutes when Briton Anthony Davidson, driving a Honda, stopped his car at the Curve Grande. A red flag was waved immediately because of the danger to the rest of the field and the session stopped for ten minutes.
The session was restarted and saw few additional incidents as barely a dozen cars went out and recorded laptimes. Jani was one of the few who spun, losing his car briefly at the Variante Ascari, but he recovered and continued.
As the session ended, the sun rested behind unwelcome cloud cover and the humidity intensified on a day when high tension is expected later as both defending drivers' world champion Fernando Alonso and his rival German Michael Schumacher, who is seeking an eighth title, both took the morning off without clocking a time.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel BMW-Sauber (M) 1:23.263 22
2. Kubica BMW-Sauber (M) 1:23.745 + 0.482 5
3. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:23.868 + 0.605 19
4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:24.037 + 0.774 5
5. Jani Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:24.196 + 0.933 24
6. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) 1:25.413 + 2.150 7
7. Doornbos Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:25.578 + 2.315 19
8. Albers MF1-Toyota (B) 1:25.766 + 2.503 7
9. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:26.708 + 3.445 20
10. Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:27.310 + 4.047 20
11. Montagny Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:27.597 + 4.334 7
12. Mondini MF1-Toyota (B) 1:28.444 + 5.181 7
13. Davidson Honda (M) No time 2
14. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) No time 1
15. Massa Ferrari (B) No time 1
16. Trulli Toyota (B) No time 2
17. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (M) No time 1
18. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) No time 2
19. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) No time 3
20. Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) No time 1
21. Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) No time 1
22. Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) No time 1
23. Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) No time 1
24. Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) No time 1
25. Alonso Renault (M)
26. Fisichella Renault (M)
27. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B)
28. Barrichello Honda (M)
29. Button Honda (M)
German teenager Sebastian Vettel topped the times again for BMW Sauber in Friday afternoon's second free practice session for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.
He delivered a fast lap late in the session to eclipse the two Ferraris driven by Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa and prove that his arrival in Formula One as the youngest man to take part in a weekend's action is the signal of a major talent.
Schumacher and Massa were second and third fastest ahead of Austrian Alexander Wurz in a Williams, Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in a McLaren Mercedes-Benz and Finn Kimi Raikkonen in another McLaren.
After a warm morning of sunshine, the air temperature had risen to 32 degrees and the track temperature was 40 when the second session began in the afternoon. Again, as in the morning, the first incident of note was the sight of a Honda, driven again by Anthony Davidson, pulling up and stopping amid flames and smoke.
The young Briton seemed to be pushing his car's power units beyond their endurance and the spectacle was loud and colourful.
Davidson's second enforced stoppage of the day was followed by Japanese Sakon Yamamoto in his Super Aguri Honda missing the apex the first chicane and then doing it again, his two errors punctuated by the sight of Alexander Wurz in his Williams spinning at the Variante Della Roggia.
Yamamoto, Austrian Christian Klien in his Red Bull and then German Nico Rosberg, in a Williams, all flew straight through the first chicane before American Scott Speed went off track and then continued at the opening part of Lesmo.
The arrival of the two Ferraris on track sent a flutter through the crowd, which remained relatively sparse with many empty seats clearly visible.
Immediately, as soon as they clocked their times, Schumacher and Massa took over at the top of the timesheets, the German clocking a best time of 1:23.128 to outpace his Brazilian partner by just four-hundredths of a second.
By the three-quarter mark in the session, they remained unchallenged, with Wurz in his Williams third fastest ahead of Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in his McLaren Mercedes Benz. German Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber was fifth ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the second McLaren.
Then, just when it seemed that the scarlet-dressed tifosi could begin to celebrate, along came 19-year-old Vettel in his BMW to wreck the Ferrari fans' hopes, the young German topping the times ahead of both Schumacher and Massa.
Vettel had topped the times earlier ahead of de la Rosa, but this lap in 1:22.631 blitzed the field and ensured that he remained on top.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel BMW-Sauber (M) 1:22.631 29
2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:23.138 + 0.507 11
3. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:23.182 + 0.551 12
4. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:23.414 + 0.783 26
5. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:23.970 + 1.339 12
6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:24.034 + 1.403 11
7. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (M) 1:24.330 + 1.699 9
8. Alonso Renault (M) 1:24.577 + 1.946 15
9. Kubica BMW-Sauber (M) 1:24.813 + 2.182 5
10. Montagny Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:24.943 + 2.312 24
11. Albers MF1-Toyota (B) 1:24.985 + 2.354 11
12. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:25.027 + 2.396 12
13. Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:25.040 + 2.409 9
14. Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:25.108 + 2.477 11
15. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:25.160 + 2.529 14
16. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) 1:25.277 + 2.646 12
17. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:25.316 + 2.685 22
18. Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:25.318 + 2.687 11
19. Davidson Honda (M) 1:25.356 + 2.725 8
20. Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:25.500 + 2.869 11
21. Mondini MF1-Toyota (B) 1:25.586 + 2.955 29
22. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:25.707 + 3.076 19
23. Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:25.755 + 3.124 21
24. Jani Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:25.878 + 3.247 32
25. Doornbos Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:26.058 + 3.427 31
26. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:26.118 + 3.487 21
27. Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:26.705 + 4.074 14
28. Barrichello Honda (M)
29. Button Honda (M)
Not a good day for motorsport though with the death of Peter Brock