Britain: Mixing with McLaren in Practices
By Karl King
July 8 2005
Toyota were mixing it with the big boys today in pratices at Silverstone. Sessions are becoming boring with Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa dominating practice times in his McLaren, but I find it very encouraging to see Toyota mixing with the British based team.
FRIDAY FREE PRACTICE 1
The devastating events in the centre of London yesterday could not have come at a worse time for the organisers of the British GP. After 4 separate bombings in the capital, the security at Silvestone has been tightened immensely with police checking every person entering the track. As I write this an enormous 700 casualties have bee reported with over 50 deaths. A figure expected to rise.
However, on track the the team produced an encouraging result. Track temperature managed 27 degrees, with the typical British weather brought us a low 19 degrees in air temperature.
Pedro de la Rosa set a time +0.934s ahead of Ricardo Zonta, while Briton Jenson Button pleased his home crowd, third for B.A.R-Honda.
Ralf Schumacher completed 6 laps and set a lap time +0.011s faster than Juan Pablo Montoya. Ralf landed the sixth place spot behind Finn Kimi Raikkonen.
Jarno Trulli failed to set a time, a tactic often employed by Toyota to preserve the RVX-05 engine.
Full Times:
Pos.
Driver
Team
Time
Laps
1
P. de la Rosa
McLaren
1:19.205
21
2
R. Zonta
Toyota
1:20.139
30
3
J. Button
BAR
1:20.211
10
4
K. Räikkönen
McLaren
1:20.411
9
5
R. Schumacher
Toyota
1:21.080
6
6
JP. Montoya
McLaren
1:21.091
5
7
M. Schumacher
Ferrari
1:21.453
9
8
T. Sato
BAR
1:21.582
10
9
R. Barrichello
Ferrari
1:22.216
9
10
F. Massa
Sauber
1:22.350
11
11
D. Coulthard
Red Bull
1:22.403
8
12
C. Klien
Red Bull
1:22.456
8
13
V. Liuzzi
Red Bull
1:22.615
22
14
J. Villeneuve
Sauber
1:23.370
7
15
M. Webber
Williams
1:23.394
8
16
N. Heidfeld
Williams
1:24.321
9
17
N. Karthikeyan
Jordan
1:24.581
10
18
T. Monteiro
Jordan
1:25.488
17
19
R. Doornbos
Jordan
1:25.560
12
20
C. Albers
Minardi
1:25.897
16
21
P. Friesacher
Minardi
1:27.246
7
22
G. Fisichella
Renault
no time
2
23
F. Alonso
Renault
no time
2
24
J. Trulli
Toyota
no time
1
FRIDAY PRACTICE 2
Again, the quickest man out on track was de la Rosa. Toyota showed the potential for the weekend, with the team and McLaren occupying all top six spots.
The best Toyota was that of Ricardo Zonta landing second, followed by the McLaren race drivers and in turn Ralf and Jarno.
Trulli completed 4 more laps than German Ralf, while Ralf managed a time +0.214s faster than his generally quicker team mate.
Alonso was quickest of the Renaults in 7th, while the quickest Brit was DC in 9th.
Full Times:
Pos.
Driver
Team
Time
Laps
1
P. de la Rosa
McLaren
1:18.530
37
2
R. Zonta
Toyota
1:18.964
31
3
JP. Montoya
McLaren
1:20.252
17
4
K. Räikkönen
McLaren
1:20.384
15
5
R. Schumacher
Toyota
1:20.602
23
6
J. Trulli
Toyota
1:20.816
27
7
F. Alonso
Renault
1:20.990
21
8
V. Liuzzi
Red Bull
1:21.004
33
9
D. Coulthard
Red Bull
1:21.034
19
10
M. Schumacher
Ferrari
1:21.044
21
11
J. Button
BAR
1:21.186
28
12
M. Webber
Williams
1:21.235
20
13
G. Fisichella
Renault
1:21.279
15
14
C. Klien
Red Bull
1:21.323
21
15
R. Barrichello
Ferrari
1:21.519
21
16
F. Massa
Sauber
1:21.577
28
17
J. Villeneuve
Sauber
1:22.180
19
18
N. Heidfeld
Williams
1:22.500
19
19
T. Sato
BAR
1:22.795
12
20
R. Doornbos
Jordan
1:22.812
20
21
C. Albers
Minardi
1:23.390
22
22
T. Monteiro
Jordan
1:23.629
22
23
N. Karthikeyan
Jordan
1:23.891
26
24
P. Friesacher
Minardi
1:24.594
21