Friday First Practice- France

By Jane Gibbons
July 14 2006

A summary of the first practice session for the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours where Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was top of the time sheets like he has been in alot of these sessions throughout the season

First practice took place with no sign of the rain predicted by some forecasters and a track temperature of 45º, air Temp of 31º but with humidity of 46% in spite of the clear skies.

Both Renault drivers completed only one installation lap along with most of the predicted front runners but the Ferrari drivers plus Webber, Heidfeld and Barrichello elected to remain in the garage for the entire session.

Robert Kubica was impressive again for BMW with a time of 1:16794 followed by Anthony Davidson and Jenson Button set the best time for a race driver with a 1:18.160 from the four laps he completed late in the session. Jarno Trulli span out on his installation lap and, never to be outdone on that score, Takuma Sato managed a complete 360º!! Rather unsurprisingly Sakon Yamamoto set the slowest time of all with a 1:23891 - over three seconds slower than former Renault tester Frank Montagny who he will be replacing from the next race. Looks like we have another mobile chicane on the horizon...



P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps
1. 38 KUBICA BMW Sauber M 1'16"781 206.817 Km/h
2. 36 DAVIDSON Honda M 1'17"156 + 0'00"375
3. 12 BUTTON Honda M 1'18"160 + 0'01"379
4. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota B 1'18"797 + 0'02"016
5. 39 SUTIL Midland Toyota B 1'18"812 + 0'02"031
6. 40 JANI Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'18"921 + 0'02"140
7. 17 VILLENEUVE BMW Sauber M 1'19"078 + 0'02"297
8. 35 WURZ Williams Cosworth B 1'19"125 + 0'02"344
9. 37 DOORNBOS RedBull Ferrari M 1'19"301 + 0'02"520
10. 10 ROSBERG Williams Cosworth B 1'19"391 + 0'02"610
11. 19 ALBERS Midland Toyota B 1'19"468 + 0'02"687
12. 8 TRULLI Toyota B 1'19"844 + 0'03"063
13. 18 MONTEIRO Midland Toyota B 1'20"547 + 0'03"766
14. 23 MONTAGNY S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'20"780 + 0'03"999
15. 22 SATO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'21"125 + 0'04"344
16. 41 YAMAMOTO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'23"891 + 0'07"110