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Michael
Schumacher set the third fastest time at the end of the
first day of practice for the French Grand Prix. His
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Rubens Barrichello was
seventh. Both men were very positive about the performance
of their F2005 and particularly complimentary about
improvements on the tyre front. The team has also introduced
a new aerodynamic package here. Technical Director Ross
Brawn reckons there is still some work to do overnight with
the data and tomorrow morning on the track to improve the
overall balance of the car.
As is becoming
something of a tradition on Fridays, McLaren-Mercedes third
driver, Pedro De La Rosa topped the final time sheet of the
day, the only man to break the 1m 15s barrier. Next quickest
was team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, but Kimi Raikkonen has
seen his weekend already compromised, as his engine failed
at the start of the afternoon session. So, wherever he
qualifies tomorrow afternoon, the Finn will have to drop ten
places on the starting grid as a penalty for changing
engines.
Behind Michael
come the two Renaults: championship leader Fernando Alonso
in fourth ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella. Making his first
and probably only appearance of the season on the F1 timing
screens is Olivier Panis in sixth spot. The Frenchman is
currently a Toyota test driver and the Japanese team decided
to give him a run on a circuit that he knows very well. It
was a crowd pleasing gesture, as this is the first year
since 1965 that there has not been a single French driver
competing in the F1 World Championship.
There have been
heavy storms in this Nievre region of France, but today’s
session was held in dry but cool conditions. Temperatures
are due to return to the seasonal norm for the rest of the
weekend.
Jean Todt : “We
went through our usual Friday programme, centred on defining
the best set-up on the cars and carrying out a comparison of
the two types of Bridgestone tyre available to us. It is too
early to make any predictions and now we have to study the
data to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and
for the race.
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