1st Practice times:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.206
2. Alexander Wurz (Aut) McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.216
3. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:48.619
4. Ricardo Zonta (Bra) Toyota 1:49.445
5. Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 1:49.692
6. Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 1:49.890
7. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:50.542
8. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:50.564
9. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:50.820
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Red Bull 1:50.951
11. Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 1:51.003
12. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:51.177
13. Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber-Petronas 1:52.173
14. Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber-Petronas 1:52.236
15. Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan 1:53.148
16. Antonio Pizzonia (Bra) Williams-BMW 1:53.535
17. Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi 1:53.807
18. Nicolas Kiesa (Den) Jordan 1:54.437
19. Robert Doornbos (Ned) Minardi 1:54.973
20. Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan 1:55.174
21. Enrico Toccacelo (Ita) Minardi 2:02.502
22. David Coulthard (Sco) Red Bull no time
23. Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull n.t
24. Fernando Alonso (Esp) Renault n.t
25. Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) McLaren-Mercedes n.t


McMerc are looking good - Ferraris still mediocre - BAR almost there again..

Hopefully will be a showery race to make things interesting

Not many chances left for DC to make a podium

 

best race of the year

 

was it?

 

Last chance I'd say.

He knows what he's doing, preserving everything.........

A wet race after the off would be DC's best chance.

 

it was - did you miss it

 

miss what?

 

My favourite race of the calendar too. Kimi to destroy the opposition, Alonso to spin out and lose the use of his legs till the last race of the season.

 

Speaking of which, did anyone else see that Alex Zanardi won his first ETCC race the other day

 

Did they kit his car out with a PS2 pad, instead of a wheel/pedals?

 

They ditched the fly-by-wire throttle & replaced it with a cable - see Autosport this week.

Apparently the fly by wire could not cope with part throttle instructions & he had to run a different map to the other BMW drivers.
Zanardi to test a Williams now....