Massa improves to 11th with a 1:14.561.
Meanwhile Vettel has just set the fastest time in S2 and improves his overall time with a 1:13.393
The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
Moderators: cmlean, Ed, The Qualiflyer, The Heretic
Session over, top 8: Wurz, Davidson, Vettel, Trulli, Button, M Schumacher, R Schumacher and Montagny.
Full results
Full results
Thanks Ed..must be quite late there...Great job done in the wee hours 
Notably i read somewhere that alonso's engine was change just before the 1st practise...so no penalties for him & now he's using the same engine as Fisi 7 set up in the T-car...wondering y such a change at the last minute...too risky
Or probably,the idea of going safe has changed & the new engine is more powerful...reliable??
Notably i read somewhere that alonso's engine was change just before the 1st practise...so no penalties for him & now he's using the same engine as Fisi 7 set up in the T-car...wondering y such a change at the last minute...too risky
Or probably,the idea of going safe has changed & the new engine is more powerful...reliable?? An F1 Idiot!!!
Renault decided to change Fernando's engine with the engine in the spare car which was of the same specification. It seems they had some concern with the original unit.
As the team decided to make the switch before the start of the 1st practice session, Alonso will not incur a penalty.
Head of Engine Operations Denis Chevrier said:
As the team decided to make the switch before the start of the 1st practice session, Alonso will not incur a penalty.
Head of Engine Operations Denis Chevrier said:
This morning, we chose to swap Fernando's original engine for a unit of the same specification that was installed in the spare car, because the latest results of our dyno testing in Viry indicated it offered us the optimum performance-reliability compromise. This unit functioned faultlessly today, as did the E specification engine in Giancarlo's car.
Selected Quotes following Friday practice:
Drivers
Alex Wurx - Fastest
Williams - Patrick Head
Toro Rosso - N/A
Spyker MF1 Racing - Dominic Harlow
Drivers
Alex Wurx - Fastest
Anthony Davdison - 2ndIt?s the end, no more Friday driver role for me! I?m really pleased that I had such a good last lap. In fact, if I can squeeze some laps like that out of the car next year, where there are no mistakes and everything was fine, I will be very happy. The work we did today was good; we completed our usual tyre tests as well as some set-up comparisons and brake work. Now we need to get our heads together with our engineers to make sure we have a good package for tomorrow?s qualifying and the race on Sunday.
Sebastian Vettel - 3rdA nice end to the season for me. The car was feeling really good all the way through today, particularly on the long runs which is promising for the race. The track continued improving all through the day and as the temperature warmed up it suited our car more and more, so hopefully the weather will continue to get better through the weekend. We had a bit of traffic on my last run which was a shame as the times could have been quicker but that's Friday driving for you. Reliability has again been excellent so we have a lot positives to take forward into the rest of the weekend.
Jarno Trulli - 4thIt was a good Friday. Although rain was predicted, it stayed dry which was an advantage and meant that in both sessions we were able do our preparation work well. I did a lot of laps and collected a lot of data. I like the track very much. It is very bumpy but a lot of fun to drive on.
Jenson Button - 5thThat was a good Friday practice session for us. You always notice the bumps on the first day at Interlagos but we had no problems and we were able to make it through our programme of tyre and set-up work. We have been looking competitive so we are confident heading into tomorrow and the race. After our double points finish at Suzuka we are only one point away from BMW in the constructors' championship with one race to go. Every position is crucial for the team so the most important thing for this weekend is to push as hard as possible to try and move up to fifth place. Our pace has improved a lot this year. Now we have one more chance for points at this last race and we will do our best to take it.
Michael Schumacher - 6thWe have made improvements throughout the day as we've tried various set-up options. The balance was better this afternoon as the track improved and our pace seems encouraging. We had a few problems with traffic, particularly in the afternoon session, but it didn't impact on the running too much. Anthony was able to cover a lot of laps so we will have plenty of information to look through tonight.
Ralf Schumacher - 7thOf course, I am well aware this is my last Grand Prix, but once I
am in the car, it feels no different to any other. I am here with my family and my closest friends which makes me happy. I would like to thank BMW-Sauber for their nice gesture.
On the technical front, first impressions are good: the car and the Bridgestones seem to be working well. The situation seems pretty close and from our side we are happy with the work we have done today. Our aim is clearly to try and win the Constructors? championship and that will require a one-two finish.
Franck Montagny - 8thThis circuit has always been difficult due to the bumps and today was no different. Today's sessions went okay and we had no real problems. We completed all our programmes as planned but now we have to sit together and make our tyre choice, which will be difficult. This is a challenging circuit for cars and drivers but I think our package should be good here. Our speed has been strong at recent races and we were quick at Suzuka a fortnight ago. So the trend has clearly been in the right direction and we hope that can continue here. Our target for the weekend is to take fifth place in the constructors' championship and I think that would be a just reward after all the hard work the team has put in this season.
Fernando Alonso - 10thThis is my last day with SUPER AGURI, so it is quite a special day. I was happy with the car during the final session and we finished 8th fastest. We completed two tyre tests in the afternoon because we had a problem this morning with the steering rack which caused us to cancel our first session. I think it's good because a top 10 finish shows everyone that the team is getting better and better. But there is a little bit of sadness because the guys here have been very good to me and I would like to thank them and Aguri for my great time with the team.
Giancarlo Fisichella - 12thThe grip levels were very low today, and the track was getting better and better as the session went on. That means it's difficult to draw too many conclusions about the set-up or the performance of the car, and we will have to work well this evening to anticipate how the circuit will change for tomorrow and the race. So what counts today is the basic feeling, and it was good, with no problems at all in either session. The Michelin tyres were working well, and the car was pretty comfortable to drive. So I am feeling happy, and confident for the rest of the weekend.
Felipe Massa - 17thWith difficult track conditions today, it was hard to put together the best lap straight away on new tyres. There is some work to do on the car balance as I had too much oversteer, especially in the second sector, but we improved the situation during practice ? and we will hope to take another step forward for tomorrow. We will look hard at the tyre choice tonight because that will be an important factor for the rest of the weekend, but I think we are in a good position.
TeamsWe worked a lot on car set-up, which was not quite right at the start of the session, especially in terms of grip. Towards the end, we managed to improve, which makes me reasonably confident for tomorrow. My yellow and green race suit? It?s a tribute to my country and I must say I am very happy to have my first race in a Ferrari in Brazil
wearing our national colours.
Williams - Patrick Head
Honda - Gil de FerranWe have done some good homework for the race, running both tyres, which both look like possible race tyres, but we?ll be going through the data and making a decision on that tonight. We didn?t have any mechanical problems and Alex came out well among the Friday drivers, which is good for him. Nico had to learn the track, as he was driving here for the first time. As a team today we gathered useful data.
BMW Sauber - Mario TheissenA good clean day for us. Anthony, Rubens and Jenson completed all the planned running and we have the required data for us to make all the key decisions for tomorrow. Anthony and Jenson are happy with the car balance but Rubens' car needs a little more tuning. The weather is unusually cold but should get warmer over the weekend. Hopefully we can keep improving and be in a strong position for qualifying tomorrow. Since this is the last Friday of the season, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Anthony for his invaluable contribution, effort and focus all year.
Toyota - Dieter GassWe are satisfied with the first day of practice. Sebastian had a big programme, which especially contained the tyre comparisons, and completed 62 laps. He is happy with both the set up and the performance of the car. Nick and Robert haven?t done any long runs so far, but tomorrow they will profit from Sebastian?s set up work. There were one or two spins, but we had no technical problems. The most successful driver of all time is retiring, he did a lot for the sport and because of him, especially in Germany, F1 is very popular. As a thank you to Michael Schumacher we have Thanks Michael and Danke Michael on the rear wings of our cars.
Ferrari - Jean TodtSo far things have gone well for us here at Interlagos. Today we had no technical problems so we were able to complete everything we had planned. Obviously the main focus was tyres and we have some interesting data which we will now have to analyse. We will certainly continue to evaluate the tyre choice tomorrow morning. We have also been working hard at riding the bumps, which are always an issue here. We put in more laps than usual this morning because it's a short track and we had mileage available. It was dirty early on but the track surface improved as the day went on. We look competitive so we will keep on working hard and keep focused on coming away with the points we need on Sunday.
Super Aguri - Aguri SuzukiThis is a special Friday, because even if we are trying not to think about it too
much, we are well aware that this is the first day of Michael?s final race weekend as a
driver. Furthermore this is the final Grand Prix of what has been a very tough season, featuring moments of joy but also disappointment. It is still hard to put behind us thoughts about Michael?s retirement in Suzuka, which compromised our chances of victory in both championships, especially the Drivers? one. Here our target is very clear, namely to get a
one-two, which we know is an ambitious goal but one that is achievable. All our efforts and those of our technical partners, first and foremost Bridgestone and Shell, are concentrated on this task. Then we will see how things turn out depending on the race result.
McLaren - Ron DennisI am happy with today?s practice sessions. Franck set another good time for us and finished in the top 10. He has done a great job for my team and I would like to thank him for his contribution this year. Taku also did a good job today; it is a shame that Sakon had some problems with his car, but overall Franck collected a good amount of data and so it is looking positive for tomorrow.
Renault - Pat SymondsA good and solid performance. So far so good
Red Bull - N/AIn spite of what's at stake this weekend, we had a very normal Friday, running our usual programme evaluating the two types of Michelin tyre we have brought to this race. There does not appear to be a big difference between them at the moment, and we will study the data tonight to select the right tyre for the race. Both cars were suffering from some oversteer today, but we took a step in the right direction during the session and will improve further overnight. The engines performed without incident, so all in all, it was a typical Friday made up of solid race preparation.
Toro Rosso - N/A
Spyker MF1 Racing - Dominic Harlow
Today was quite a normal Friday but that's not to say it was necessarily very good. We still have a lot of work to do with the set-up of the cars. The bumps and the generally fairly low grip have caused a lot of problems for the drivers. I think we are going in the right direction with tyres looking towards qualifying tomorrow and the race. We had a lot of fun working with Ernesto and he did a great job for us today.