Kubica fastest during first practice session

Robert Kubica has topped this morning’s practice session for BMW The first practice session for the centenary Grand Prix got underway under glorious skies and unbelievable heat at Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours.

Alexander Wurz was the fastest man at the outset, taking top spot on a 1:19.731, followed closely by Anthony Davidson just 0.339 behind the Polish. Robert Kubica was the next driver out, in the slightly odd looking BMW… a new set of fins on the nose, nicknamed the Petronas Towers in deference to the team’s Malaysian oil sponsor, and McLaren-esque engine cover X-winglets giving the car a certain je ne sais quoi. But as unsightly as the new fins were, they seemed to do a job, the Pole going fastest immediately on a 1:19.325.

With quarter of an hour gone, only five drivers had set a laptime… Kubica, Wurz, Davidson, Adrian Sutil in the Midland and Sakon Yamamoto in the Super Aguri. Neel Jani made the group of five a sextet taking fourth spot for Toro Rosso after already running in the morning’s practice session in GP2 for the Arden Team. The Swiss went second soon after with a 1:19.457 after Kubica had lowered his time to a 1:19.057. Robert Doornbos meanwhile was out for Red Bull and went sixth, one and a half seconds off Kubica’s ultimate pace.

Davidson however was the man on the mission, going top with 37 minutes remaining on a 1:18.677. Kubica however was not about to let his lead go easily, and banged in another stonker to set the pace again on a 1:17.790.

Takuma Sato went out next, setting the seventh for Super Aguri before spinning across the gravel and returning to the track on his next lap. Sutil leapt up to third for Midland on a 1:19.283, before Yamamoto crawled to a halt at the Adelaide hairpin. Jani then made it up into the top three with a 1:18.962 as Davidson increased his pace to rest just 0.019 behind Kubica’s session-leading lap.

With quarter of an hour left Franck Montagny gave the home fans something to cheer as the only Frenchman in the field made his first moves on track, going seventh exactly three seconds adrift of Kubica but quicker than both his Super Aguri team-mates.

And that was pretty much that. The last ten minutes of the session provided about as much excitement as a printer cartridge convention, with pretty much every driver choosing to conserve his car and engine rather than risk it in the extreme heat. The only driver to throw caution to the wind was, once again, Kubica, who increased his time to cement himself in first place with a 1:16.794, with Villeneuve, Monteiro, Albers, Rosberg and Trulli also lolloping around to set fairly unimpressive times, each around 4 seconds off the pace.

A final minute flurry saw Ralf Schumacher take third spot, only to be beaten down to fourth by Button, albeit over a second adrift of Honda’s third driver Davidson in second. But the Brit improved to finish just a second off his compatriot Davidson.

And so it finished, Kubica on top again, with Davidson second, Button third, Ralf Schumacher fourth, Sutil fifth and Jani sixth, with neither Renault F1 driver setting a timed lap.