The 'flying' Dutchman

At the openingsday of the 2006 F1 season at the 5,412 kilometer Bahrain International Circuit, Robert Doornbos finished the day in a deserving 7th position. By setting a best laptime of 1:32.926 halfway the second session, the 24-year old Dutchman was only separated from today’s pacesetter (Anthony Davidson) by one-and-a-half second and also found himself in front of his teammates Christian Klien and David Coulthard!

While the air- and tracktemperatures had already reached the level of 30 degrees Celsius, today’s first Free Practise got underway at 11:00h at the ultra-modern
F1-circuit near the city of Manama. In this first hour of practise not many cars came into action at first, as all teams wanted to spare their newly introduced V8 engines, except for almost all test- and reservedrivers and the Japanese Super Aguri duo. Only in the last ten minutes, more drivers decided to start running in order to get a first impression of the circuit which was designed by Herman Tilke in 2004. Over four runs, Robert Doornbos drove 15 laps in which his best time of 1:35.203
handed him 15th position.

Soon after the lunchbreak, all drivers hit the track for some serious running and as time progressed, laptimes improved continiously. After having completed two long runs to collect data about the Michelin tyres, the team also assigned their test- and reservedriver to simulate two qualifying runs in the second part of the session. Having set a best time of 1:32.926 at the end of his third run, Doornbos was welcomed back by a cheerful RBR crew. Over the course of the second Free Practise session, Doornbos drive 24 laps in which he catapulted himself in seventh spot!

Robert Doornbos “After we celebrated quite a memorable party yesterday, I was very eager to get started this morning. As my new seat only arrived late yesterday evening, I first had to pass the FIA test (to get out of the car within 10 seconds) this morning, which stressed us a little in terms of time for all necesary
preparations. But after that everything went according to plan. I was able to get a good impression on the Michelin tyres and I am convinced I made the right choice for
the team between the available compounds. For now, my job is ready but I’m really pleased in what we achieved today!”