French Grand Prix – Friday practice

July 14, 2006 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

As previously noted, Juan Pablo Montoya has signed to race in NASCAR next year; his seat at McLaren has been taken by their test driver, Pedro de la Rosa.

The Sauber team have added two vertical planes just in front of the driver – have they decided their drivers should act more like the Super Aguri drivers? No, they’re aerodynamic wings designed to increase the airflow.

Session 1:
Jarno Trulli seemed to have forgotten which way the track went and ended up heading into the gravel trap at a fair old speed.

Not to be outdone, Takumo Sato spun and hopped backwards across the kitty litter before rejoining.

Fastest lap was 1:16.794 by Robert Kubica, test driver for Sauber … so maybe those strange fins work?

Session 2:
A couple of cars touch the edge of the gravel but no major issues … until Rubens Barrichello spins and puts his Honda sideways into the tyre wall.

Giancarlo Fisichella manages to get his Renault airborne by hitting one of the vicious kerbs.

Adrian Sutil, Friday driver for Midland (MF1), has both left wheels on the grass when he decides to spin the car around, throwing up lots of dirt.

Scott Speed mimics Ruben’s mistake, although SS smacked the wall backwards rather than side-on. Fortunately the stricken Honda had been moved, so now the marshalls have a dented Toro Rosso to retrieve.

Fastest lap was Kubica’s 1:16.902