Davidson on top as teams come out to play

The second practice session for the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix saw a flurry of on-track activity, as the teams finally made their way out for the first show of force of the new season. The session started off as the first had ended, with Robert Kubica (BMW) and Alex Wurz (Williams) swapping fastest laps.

The two third drivers headed the field for the opening gambit of the session, constantly improving on each others laps amidst their own personal battle. It was Kubica, however, who once again had the edge over the Austrian.

Then the big guns came out. First up was Kimi Raikkonen, who set a blistering pace around the Bahrain circuit to leap to the top of the times with a 1:33.577. Seeing the pace that his rival had managed, Michael Schumacher was quickly out on track, but could only manage second behind the Finn. Schumacher wouldn’t have to worry for long however as on his next outing the McLaren ground to a halt in the first sector, the mechanical gremlins that had so affected the team’s winter testing apparently coming back to haunt them.

Anthony Davidson was enjoying his first weekend back as a third driver since 2004, and he quickly put his Honda at the top of the timesheets with a 1:32.997, and there he stayed for all of ten minutes.

Having run only a reconnaissance lap this morning, the second practice session was World Champion Fernando Alonso’s first real taste of 2006 action, and the title holder was instantly on top of his game, taking almost half a second out of Davidson’s top time with a lap of 1:32.538. Giancarlo Fisichella sandwiched the Honda with the Italian’s time of 1:33.215 good enough for third at the half way stage. Yet more activity on track saw Tonio Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso grab second spot behind Fernando with a lightning lap.

But Ferrari was back on it again and Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher’s new team-mate for 2006, went top on a 1:32.175. All this came just moments before Davidson set the lap that would top the session for good… a staggering 1:31.353.

Michael Schumacher took the quickest first sector on his hot lap, but went second, 0.4 seconds behind Davidson, while Alex Wurz too set a great first sector only to fall back at the conclusion of the lap.

And so it ended, with Davidson and Honda at the top of the pile, followed by Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari and Alex Wurz’s Williams. Felipe Massa wound up fourth with Fernando Alonso fifth and Tonio Liuzzi sixth. Robert Doornbos took seventh for Red Bull Racing with Giancarlo Fisichella eighth, Jenson Button ninth, and Robert Kubica finishing a very promising first day for BMW in tenth.

http://www.f1technical.net/news/2043