French Grand Prix – qualifying

July 15, 2006 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

Track temperature 52°C; air 33°C; humidity 41%
Remember: PdlR has replaced JPM
Franck Montagny is driving for Super Aguri one last time – he’ll be replaced by Sakon Yamamoto from the next race (Germany) onwards
Apparently Michael Schumacher pulled in to the pits this morning and his engine caught fire … but they say he’s using the same engine so no penalty for MS
Rosberg was given a 10-place penalty, however, for his engine change

Session 1:
Heidfeld is first on track
NH 1:18.109
Albers 1:18.009
Trulli 1:17.092
TM runs very wide, across the gravel but rejoins OK
Coulthard 1:17.034
Massa 1:16.277
M.Schumacher 1:15.865
(R.Schumacher 1:15.949 for P2)
Session ended; bottom 6 are: P17=Liuzzi, 18=Villeneuve, 19=Button(!), 20=Monteiro, 21=Montagny, 22=Sato

Session 2:
NH 1:16.394
RS 1:15.625
MS 1:15.111
Session ended but those on hot laps will have their lap time counted (also applies to Session 1, but there wasn’t anyone utilising it today)
Bottom 6 are: P11=Webber, 12=Heidfeld, 13=Klien, 14=Barrichello, 15=Speed, 16=Albers

Session 3:
Note: The 3rd session has been reduced to 15 minutes from today onwards
The 10 drivers are: Alonso, M.Schumacher, Massa, Raikkonen, Fisichella, R.Schumacher, Trulli, Rosberg, Coulthard and de la Rosa
MS makes a strong move to pass FA on the very first lap
MS 1:17.777
10mins left
First pit stops
KR is held in the pits for a couple of seconds, presumably to give him some space on track
5mins left
PdlR 1:16.632
MS 1:15.770
2mins left
Chequered flag is out; remember current laps will count
FA takes P2
MS improves his pole time 1:15.493
FMa takes P2 for an all-Ferrari front row

Provisional grid: MS, FMa, FA, JT, RS, KR, GF, PdlR, NR*, DC, MW, NH, CK, RB, SS, CA, VL, JV, JB, TM, FMo, TS.
(*NR will get a 10-grid-spot penalty for an engine change)