Ferrari is back: 1.* Wurz (Ö, McLaren) 1:30,695 2.* Zonta (Br, Toyota) 0,754 3. Alonso (Sp, Renault) 1,274 4. Schumi I (De, Ferrari) 1,325 5.* Liuzzi (It, Red Bull) 1,624 6. De la Rosa (Sp, McLaren) 1,638 7. Trulli (It, Toyota) 1,736 8. Fisichella (It, Renault) 1,900 9. Räikkönen (Fi, McLaren) 2,013 10. Button (Gb, BAR-Honda) 2,293 11. Schumi II (De, Toyota) 2,342 12. Heidfeld (De, Williams-BMW) 2,382 13. Barrichello (Br, Ferrari) 2,416 14. Sato (Ja, BAR-Honda) 2,457 15. Klien (Ö, Red Bull) 2,510 16. Webber (Au, Williams-BMW) 2,732 17. Coulthard (Gb, Red Bull) 2,741 18. Massa (Br, Sauber) 2,748 19. Karthikeyan (Ind, Jordan) 2,868 20.* Doornbors (Ho, Jordan) 3,013 21. Villeneuve (Ka, Sauber) 3.031 22. Monteiro (Por, Jordan) 3,286 23. Friesacher (Ö, Minardi) 3,527 24. Albers (Ö, Minardi) 3,605 Not that practice times are terribly meaningful, but nevertheless.
Pretty good laptime by Alexander Wurz. I'm sure he was running empty, but still he must feel good to be # 1. If Montoya can't make it for Imola, Wurz should be driving from what I'v heard. Liuzzi 3rd in 1st practice and 3rd 2nd practice. Hope Red Bull will let him race in Imola. He has talent this guy. Now what happened to Barrichello in the 2nd free practice? No time for RB and he wasn't even in his racing suit? He was watching the 2nd pract with Jean and Ross. Speedtv said Ferrari has two F2005 cars for the week-end and the spare car is a F2004M. Maybe Ferrari are scared that one of the 2 cars breaks.
I found the answer ... gearbox problem. The F2005 has a new type of transmission now utilising more carbon. The casing is completely new, both in terms of its shape. Maybe it was a bad idea bringing the car for Bahrain. I heard the gearbox was fragile.. I hope MS and RB will have no mechanical problems during the race.
What boggles my mind is the poor performance of the Saubers. Again. With all the new technology (super computer Albert, wind tunnel, Ferrari engine, Michelin tires) at their disposal, I thought this is going to be their season to shine, yet they end up at the end of the charts again. Whether Villeneuve is slower than Massa barely matters anymore if you're talking about 18 vs 21.
I think it was in an article posted here, but with the new aero regs I there is an incentive to make the gearbox higher off the undertray and thinner than it used to be, counter intuitive to old drive of lowering CoG, but apparently allows them much needed leeway to maximize the undertray, which is more important with the new wing regulations and the new regs on the aero around the rear wheels. I think that article also mentioned this is the first year not using welded titanium casings Ferrari has become famous for, or at least limiting the amount of Ti compared to carbon. Probably just some teething, their gearbox test rigs in Maranello are off the wall, I'm sure they have put it through the ringer. We need to get Fchat based offshore and start a pool. I'd bet Schumi wins it this weekend with Barrichello DNFing. Schumi is probably the best on the grid at conserving tires (he spent more time than anyone, except maybe Webber, focused on this in his early career), if the F2005 is competitive I really can't picture anyone on the grid beating him in a format that really plays into his hand. My (optimistic) predictions: 1. Shumi 2. KR 3. FA 4. Webber 5. GF
Is Shumacher running the same engine in his F2005 that he ran in Malaysia? If not, doesn't he suffer a penalty in qualifying position?
He couldn't run the Malaysia engine in the 2005 car as it was a 2004 engine that wouldn't fit into the 2005 car. Remember how weird it was to see the Sauber team with the new 2005 Ferrari engine while the Ferrari was still using the old 2004 engine? I think MS kept his engine from Melbourne in Malaysia and hence is back in the rotation for a new engine this weekend. Hence no penalty.
