Friday Free Practive at the Bahrain Grand Prix

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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/Gaps
01. 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