I love the first practice day of the first grand prix of the season. All the drivers are making bold statements as to why they did well or not, but the lap times mean almost nothing. Looking at the lap times for the day you have Anthony Davidson, a test driver from the Honda team on top followed by Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. Then the real mixup of teams and drivers follows with Liuzzi from Scuderia Torro Rosso (the renamed perrenial tail-ender Minardi team) in sixth place, one behind the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault. The thing that makes sense is both McLaren drivers are close to each other in lap times but somewhat off the pace. Reminds me of that line from MacBeth - "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".
Saturday qualifying is the real deal. With the new format where after each of 2 15 minute sessions the six slowest drivers get kicked out leaving the top 10 drivers to battle for the top grid positions, we're sure to see excitement and probably a little confusion. I'll be up at 6am tomorrow morning to watch it. At that time we'll know who to watch in the race.
My prediction for the top spots on the grid: Honda and Renault, followed by McLaren and Williams. I'm 100% confident that Super Aguri will be the slowest team on the grid and occupy the last two spots.
The Friday Free Practice Results:
P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps01. 36 DAVIDSON Honda M 1'31"353 213.274 Km/h 02. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'31"751 + 0'00"398 03. 35 WURZ Williams Cosworth B 1'31"764 + 0'00"411 04. 6 MASSA Ferrari B 1'32"175 + 0'00"822 05. 1 ALONSO Renault M 1'32"538 + 0'01"185 06. 20 LIUZZI Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'32"703 + 0'01"350 07. 37 DOORNBOS RedBull Cosworth M 1'32"926 + 0'01"573 08. 2 FISICHELLA Renault M 1'33"215 + 0'01"862 09. 12 BUTTON Honda M 1'33"226 + 0'01"873 10. 38 KUBICA BMW Sauber M 1'33"244 + 0'01"891 11. 15 KLIEN RedBull Ferrari M 1'33"557 + 0'02"204 12. 3 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'33"577 + 0'02"224 13. 4 MONTOYA McLaren Mercedes M 1'33"726 + 0'02"373 14. 16 HEIDFELD BMW Sauber M 1'33"848 + 0'02"495 15. 40 JANI Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'33"900 + 0'02"547 16. 21 SPEED Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1'34"284 + 0'02"931 17. 9 WEBBER Williams Cosworth B 1'34"333 + 0'02"980 18. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda M 1'34"384 + 0'03"031 19. 14 COULTHARD RedBull Ferrari M 1'34"432 + 0'03"079 20. 18 MONTEIRO Midland Toyota B 1'34"459 + 0'03"106 21. 10 ROSBERG Williams Cosworth B 1'34"953 + 0'03"600 22. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota B 1'35"170 + 0'03"817 23. 39 WINKELHOCK Midland Toyota B 1'35"686 + 0'04"333 24. 8 TRULLI Toyota B 1'35"898 + 0'04"545 25. 17 VILLENEUVE BMW Sauber M 1'36"264 + 0'04"911 26. 19 ALBERS Midland Toyota B 1'36"314 + 0'04"961 27. 22 SATO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'37"588 + 0'06"235 28. 23 IDE S. Aguri F1 Honda B 1'39"021 + 0'07"668