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Second session of practice in Oz

Renault may have been the pundits’ favourites but it was McLaren who finished the opening day of the Australian Grand Prix firmly at the top of the timesheets.

Reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa was the man to lead the Woking-based team’s charge recording the day’s fastest time of 1:25.376 late in the second session.

Kimi Raikkonen left his Friday run even later as he recorded the second fastest time of 1:25.676 on the very last lap of the hour-long run.

Nick Heidfeld was the surprise inclusion in the top three as he too managed to squeeze out a quick time on his final run.

Williams, the team which the German joined from Jordan during the winter, were tipped to struggle this weekend but Heidfeld’s time proved they couldn’t be discounted.

Overall the second session was a stark contrast to the morning run. Earlier on Friday the F1 fraternity was left frustrated by a session that saw very little running but in the afternoon over 450 laps were completed.

PRACTICE SHORTS

* From top to bottom. That was the story of Viatonio Liuzzi on Friday after the Italian bowed out of session two.

The Red Bull tester spun his RB1 in the second sector and wasn’t able to recover from the gravel.

Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Narain Karthikeyan and Robert Doornbos were other men to spin.

* Local rivals. Spain’s Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren) and Portugal’s Tiago Monteiro (Jordan) came together in the second session of practice.

Monteiro clipped the rear of his Latin rival’s MP4-20 and sent him off the circuit at turn one.

* Extra power. Renault were the straight-line envy of the F1 paddock on Friday afternoon.

Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella were the fastest men in a straight line with a top speed of 320 kmph.

Written: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 04:08:23