McLaren-Mercedes dominated Friday’s practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, claiming an early psychological advantage in its finely-balanced constructors’ championship battle with Renault.
McLaren-Mercedes dominated Friday’s practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, claiming an early psychological advantage in its finely-balanced constructors’ championship battle with Renault.
Following last week’s Japanese Grand Prix, which was won by the Woking-based team’s kingpin Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren trail Renault by two constructor’s championship points heading into Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix – the last race of the season.
On Friday, McLaren-Mercedes’ Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa topped both sessions. However, his best lap of 1:32,834 was narrowly faster than that of Toyota’s Ricardo Zonta.
Raikkonen was the fastest of the race drivers in third, over a second slower than De la Rosa, while team-mate Juan-Pablo Montoya made it three McLarens in the top five with fifth.
The 5,5-km Hermann Tilke designed circuit is demanding. Aside from the fast sections (cars can reach speeds of up to 325 km/h) there is a tight, twisty part with tricky corners so set up needs a compromise between cornering and straight line speed.
Newly-crowned world champion Fernando Alonso was pushing hard, but the Renault driver ran wide early in the second session. The Spaniard made another uncharacteristic mistake 10 minutes from the end when his R25 ran out of track and slid onto the grass. However, he set a quick lap later in the session and took fourth.
Rubens Barrichello offered Ferrari encouragement with sixth, place while the second Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella was seventh.
Jenson Button was back in the car today after suffering from a viral infection and he took eighth place. The BAR-Honda driver was forced to cancel meetings yesterday after being struck down with a bug, but he returned and promptly ran wide in the second session as he found the limit on the Shanghai International Circuit.
Red Bull’s David Coulthard also struggled at turn two, but the Scot was unable to keep his car in a straight line as Button had and he spun backwards across the grass. Coulthard ended up 11th.
Antonio Pizzonia’s second practice was a brief one. The Brazilian appeared to lose control and spin, but as he retired to the pits it became clear the rear suspension on his Williams was broken.
Jarno Trulli also saw his session cut short, although he did manage 57 minutes of the hour available. The Italian stopped his Toyota on a disused section of track and was forced to push it aside on his own.
McLaren set the pace in first practice as well when de la Rosa clocked the fastest time of 1:33,463secs. Barrichello was a surprise second on the eve of his final race for Ferrari before a winter move to BAR-Honda, while Zonta was third.
As usual at the end of the season, it’s a race of a few “lasts”, including the last time F1 will run with V10 engines. Next year, all teams will campaign V8s, but the demise of the V10, which has dominated the normally-aspirated era since 1989 (with the exception of 1994, when Ford’s HB V8 helped Michael Schumacher secure his first world championship title), will be a sad moment for F1 engineers.
Some others on the “last” list are Rubens Barrichello’s last race for Ferrari, Takuma Sato’s swangsong for BAR, and Felipe Massa’s departure from Sauber. It will also be the last race for Minardi, Jordan and Sauber; in 2006 the teams will be taken over by Red Bull, Midland and BMW respectively, although there is currently a campaign going to get Red Bull to keep the Minardi name, unlikely as it seems.
Full Practice Times
1 P. de la Rosa McLaren 1:32,834 30 laps
2 R. Zonta Toyota 1:32,977 29 laps
3 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:34,092 14 laps
4 F. Alonso Renault 1:34,226 24 laps
5 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:34,541 16 laps
6 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:34,618 24 laps
7 G. Fisichella Renault 1:34,932 28 laps
8 M. Webber Williams 1:35,035 24 laps
09 J. Button BAR 1:35,072 25 laps
10 F. Massa Sauber 1:35,196 26 laps
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:35,201 19 laps
12 V. Liuzzi Red Bull 1:35,306 26 laps
13 T. Sato BAR 1:35,397 24 laps
14 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:35,567 24 laps
15 C. Klien Red Bull 1:35,613 19 laps
16 A. Pizzonia Williams 1:35,709 13 laps
17 J. Villeneuve Sauber 1:35,894 21 laps
18 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:36,051 20 laps
19 J. Trulli Toyota 1:36,079 26 laps
20 N. Kiesa Jordan 1:36,644 25 laps
21 R. Doornbos Minardi 1:36,993 22 laps
22 C. Albers Minardi 1:37,173 21 laps
23 T. Monteiro Jordan 1:37,435 11 laps
24 N. Karthikeyan Jordan 1:37,467 18 laps
