Penalty’ Shoot Out…

By Jane Gibbons
August 6 2006

The qualifying session began not only with the prospect of Fernando Alonso struggling to make the second session due to his penalty for an irresponsible-looking move on Roberts Doornbos on Friday but also the possibility of Michael Schumacher receiving a similar punishment

The session ended with a slightly surprising pole for
Kimi Raikkonen following confirmation that Michael
would indeed receive the same 2 second time penalty as
Fernando. In spite of producing laps of 1.18.875 and
1.19.364 respectively neither Michael or Fernando
managed to scrape into the last ten. It was a gallant
effort from both of them particularly when considering
that Kimi's eventual pole time was over two tenths
slower than Fernando’s best time. Fisi will start from
7th following a disappointing - looking session with a
fastest time over a second shy of pole but maybe with
a heavy fuel load. This is plausible considering his
times were much closer to Fernando’s in both earlier
practice sessions but would be relying quite heavily
on Michelin having resolved the nagging tyre issues.

Track temperatures for qualifying were lower than for
much of the season so far and in spite of dark clouds
it remained dry until the last few minutes of the
final session. The first knock out period saw both
Renaults through but with Fernando's time of 1.217
only marginally slower than Fisi's 1.213 including the
2 second penalty whilst both Honda and McLaren looked
to have the pace to worry Renault. Early casualties
included Rosberg again and both Toro Rosso cars whilst
Robert Kubica was comfortably through on is GP debut.

In second session Massa looked to be favourite for
pole as he continued to be 'best of the rest' for most
of the session with a top time 19.704 and both Hondas
continued to look sharp with times in the 1.19’s. Fisi
still seemed to be struggling a bit with a best of
1.20.154 leaving him in a disappointing 7th place
whilst both the Red Bulls and Nick Heidfeld were
eliminated but Robert Kubica continued to impress in
9th place.

In the final session things briefly looked to be more
promising for Fisi when he produced a decent lap on
old tyres to head the times early on but in spite of
hanging on to second place for a while he eventually
dropped to 8th having been unable to improve on his
top time from the second session. It had started
drizzling as the drivers attempted their final laps
which makes Kimi's last gasp pole all the more
impressive but it remains to be seen what the strategy
will be. Jenson Button will lose 10 places as a result
of his engine change, which at least allows Fisi to
start on the clean side of the circuit. At this stage
we can only hope that he is going to be running with a
heavier fuel load than many of the cars in front of
him.

Without Michael Schumacher’s penalty things could have
been a lot worse for Renault and the challenge for
both drivers tomorrow will be to try and gain as many
places as they can to limit the points damage. With
rain forecast it could be the first time for years
that we see some major overtaking moves in Hungary.



P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times
Ave/Gaps Laps
1. 3 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'19"599
198.138 Km/h 0
2. 6 MASSA Ferrari B 1'19"886
197.426 Km/h 0
3. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda M 1'20"085
196.936 Km/h 0
4. 12 BUTTON Honda M 1'20"092
196.919 Km/h 0
5. 4 DE LA ROSA McLaren Mercedes M 1'20"117
196.857 Km/h 0
6. 9 WEBBER Williams Cosworth B 1'20"266
196.492 Km/h 0
7. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota B 1'20"759
195.292 Km/h 0
8. 2 FISICHELLA Renault M 1'20"924
194.894 Km/h 0
9. 8 TRULLI Toyota B 1'21"132
194.394 Km/h 0
10. 17 KUBICA BMW Sauber M 1'22"049
192.222 Km/h 0

11. 16 HEIDFELD BMW Sauber M 1'20"623
195.622 Km/h 0
12. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'20"875
195.012 Km/h 0
13. 14 COULTHARD RedBull Ferrari M 1'20"890
194.976 Km/h 0
14. 15 KLIEN RedBull Ferrari M 1'21"207
194.215 Km/h 0
15. 1 ALONSO Renault M 1'21"364
193.840 Km/h 0
16. 18 MONTEIRO Midland Toyota B 1'23"767
188.279 Km/h 0

17. 20 LIUZZI Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'22"068
192.177 Km/h 0
18. 10 ROSBERG Williams Cosworth B 1'22"084
192.140 Km/h 0
19. 21 SPEED Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'22"317
191.596 Km/h 0
20. 22 SATO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'22"967
190.095 Km/h 0
21. 19 ALBERS Midland Toyota B 1'23"146
189.686 Km/h 0
22. 23 YAMAMOTO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'24"016
187.721 Km/h 0