American Grand Prix – Practice & Qualifying

June 18, 2005 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

Ralf Schumacher isn’t racing after yesterday’s accident; apparently he has an eye problem. That means Zonta (who also had an off following a tyre failure yesterday) will take his place in the race.

“Michelin has advised the teams not to race unless Ralf Schumacher’s tyre failure in practice can be explained or new tyres are allowed to be used.” [BBC]

Practice:
The McLarens (at least) didn’t take Turn 13 (the scene of RS’s accident yesterday) and instead have been driving through the pit lane.

Speed commentators just said that Michelin have advised the teams using their tyres that they are not to take Turn 13 if they’re using the same tyres as yesterday.

Nick Shorrock (Director of F1 Activities, Michelin) sort of reiterated that but without being quite so specific.

Rumours about RS having shards of carbon fibre in his eye are false … so says RS himself.

Both Saubers had their water pumps changed last night, which meant breaking the FIA’s seal, but they got the OK to do it and won’t be penalised.

Whoops! JV comes in to pit but as he hits the brakes, he puts it sideways and the pit crew scatter.

Speed commentators were talking about Ferrari’s use of “heating boxes” (not ovens, honest) to warm their tyres … which of course is illegal … and there’s photographic evidence … but it’s Ferrari, so that’s OK.

There was also talk yesterday about Michelin staff spotting Bridgestone engineers cutting grooves in Ferrari’s tyres at the Canadian GP last week. Apparently the FIA wouldn’t listen to them, which is why there are a lot of Michelin guys watching everything Bridgestone do this weekend.

FA is driving like an idiot – passing CK and then slowing, baulking him – what’s that about? I hope the drivers’ meeting deals with his problem!

Fastest: KR, JB, FA, MS, TS, GF, JT, JM.

Qualifying:
Track temperature 42°C; air temp 24°C; wind 2.7m/s; humidity 46%; pressure 991.1mBar

First batch: RZ, JM, NK, GF, FA
RZ, standing in for RS – Sector 1 = 22.1; S2=52.0; S3=1:11.754
JM – S1=22.2; S2=51.8 (locked up a bit); 1:11.681 = provisional Position 1
NK – S1=22.7; S2=53.5; 1:13.776 = pP3
GF – S1=22.1; S2=51.6; 1:11.290 = pP1
FA – S1=22.2; S2=51.7; 1:11.380 = pP2

2nd batch: PF, TS, NH, JB, JT
PF – S1=23.2; S2=54.0; 1:14.494 = pP6
TS – S1=22.2; S2=51.6; 1:11.497 = pP3
NH – S1=22.5; S2=52.3; 1:12.430 = pP6
JB – S1=22.0; S2=51.4; 1:1.277 = pP1 by 0.013s (fastest S1 & S2 of the session so far)
JT – S1=21.8; S2=51.2; 1:10.625 = pP1 by 0.652s (fastest S1 & S3; fastest speed trap 342.2km/h) – very brave, considering Toyota’s weekend so far!

Batch 3: CA, TM, JV, CK, DC
CA – S1=22.9; S2=53.2; 1:13.632 = pP9, ahead of his teammate
TM – S1=23.0; S2=53.1; 1:13.462 = pP9 … very close to the wall in the final turn though
JV – S1=22.1; S2=51.8; 1:11.691 = pP7
CK – S1=22.4; S2=52.2; 1:12.132 = pP9
DC – S1=22.4; S2=52.7; 1:12.682 = pP11, behind his teammate – the onboard camera shows DC really struggling to get the Red Bull car through the infield corners

Final batch: MW, FM, RB, MS & KR
MW – S1=22.3; S2=51.6; 1:11.527 = pP6 (fastest S2)
FM – S1=22.2; S2=51.6; 1:11.555 = pP7
RB – S1=22.1; S2=51.7; 1:11.431 = pP5 – lost time in S3
MS – S1=22.0; S2=51.5; 1:11.369 = pP4
KR – S1=21.9; S2=51.1; 1:10.694 = p2 (fastest S2)

Provisional Grid: