Alonso half a second off Michael in S1!
Button now fastest in S1!
Raikkonen goes second with a 1:36.188
The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix
Moderators: cmlean, Ed, The Qualiflyer, The Heretic
Session over!
Fisichella fastest ahead of Massa and M Schumacher. Alonso, Davidson, Vettel, Button and de la Rosa make the top 8.
Full results
Fisichella fastest ahead of Massa and M Schumacher. Alonso, Davidson, Vettel, Button and de la Rosa make the top 8.
Full results
Selected Quotes following Friday Practice
Drivers
Giancarlo Fisichella - Fastest
Renault - Pat Symonds
Williams - Sam Michael
Drivers
Giancarlo Fisichella - Fastest
Felipe Massa - 2ndThe conditions meant we didn't do many laps today, but I think we are in good shape. The car felt good to drive on the intermediate tyres, and while we had a bit too much understeer on dry tyres at the end, the times were still competitive. It was a good feeling to be quickest on the track each time I ran today, so I am feeling very confident for the rest of the weekend.
Michael Schumacher - 3rdOverall, a positive day. We didn?t run much because of the rain, but towards the end of the second session, once the track conditions allowed it we did a series of laps on dry tyres. I?d say the data we have seen looks quite promising. I am reasonably happy with the balance of the car and the behaviour of the Bridgestone tyres in these conditions. All this means I reckon we can be competitive in both qualifying and the race.
Fernando Alonso - 4thAll we have got is a flavour of the situation and so it is hard to judge. The car and the Bridgestone tyres seem to be behaving well and there were no problems of any sort. The weather forecast is supposed to steadily improve and that can only be good for us. The team is in very good spirits, concentrating on our work and everything seems to be
going well. As for qualifying, I think we will be fighting Renault for the top places on the grid. The race? I hope it goes well for us!
Anthony Davidson - 5thrunning because of the conditions, but the R26 felt good, although there was a bit too much understeer everywhere. Off the track, I was surprised by the strong reaction to what I said yesterday in the press conference. I expressed very clearly that these were only my personal feelings, and that I completely understand and accept the team's decisions. Last night, I explained that to the team and to Fisi, and there is no problem. Every single person at Renault is fighting to the maximum to win the championship. I don't know what people see from the outside, but within the team, we have a fantastic atmosphere right now. And we are determined to come out on top.
Sebastian Vettel - 6thOnce again, the conditions were difficult for everybody today. It was very wet this morning but I had a good session nonetheless and I ended up fastest, finding a nice balance for the car in the wet. When it dried out this afternoon, it was the first lap I have ever done at Suzuka in the dry and it was a really good experience for me. I didn't get the best out of the tyres that I was on for the last run but it was still a really good fun day and I felt confident in the car.
Jenson Button - 7thThe circuit is stunning, especially the first sector. In this morning?s first free practice it was all about learning and evaluating the track with extreme wets as well as intermediates. In the second session I drove 19 consecutive laps at the start, and it was a good experience. When the track dried at the very end we managed two outings on grooved tyres. I had an awful lot of fun on this race track, and I really hope we can continue with this good momentum.
Pedro de la Rosa - 8thI didn't get much running in the session because of the weather, but it's good to have Anthony out there putting mileage on the car so that we don't have to compromise engine mileage. We also don't get that many sets of new wet tyres. We didn't do any running until the track started to dry out, then I got one run in at the end. At that time, practically every car was on the circuit and because of the traffic it was hard to get a good lap time. However, the car is feeling reasonably good so generally we've made a positive start to an important weekend.
TeamsDue to the wet weather conditions we took the decision to conserve the engine and tyres, so we limited our running to only six laps at the end of the second practice session. Despite this the team worked very efficiently to gain good tyre comparison data. We expect weather conditions to improve tomorrow.
Renault - Pat Symonds
Ferrari - Jean TodtOur programmes today were essentially condensed to ten minutes at the end of the second practice session. In that time, all we could really get were first impressions of how the car is performing. Those impressions were favourable, but we cannot deduce much more at this stage.
Honda - Gil de FerranThis Friday was affected by changing weather conditions that meant changing track conditions too. Given the forecast we had been given, we chose to run practically only when the track was dry. Despite this limitation we gathered important data to prepare as well as possible for the penultimate round of the season, which takes on a special importance, given the situation in the championships. We must concentrate on ourselves and our work load, trying to fend off the inevitable pressure that can develop in these situations. Along with
Bridgestone, we will be trying to make the most of the package we have at our disposal.
BMW Sauber - Mario TheissenIt was hard to learn much today given the changing conditions, and for that reason the timesheets are not especially representative. With Anthony we spent most of the day evaluating which tyres were best for which conditions and at the end he had the opportunity to run around here on dry tyres for his first time ever. All three drivers are happy with the car balance, so all in all a good start for our home GP.
McLaren - Ron DennisThe focus of today?s free practice was on the weather, and so over the two sessions we tested all available types of tyres. In the morning Sebastian used extreme wets first, and then intermediates because the conditions were changing during the hour. In the afternoon right up to ten minutes before the end of the session intermediates were used, and then everyone took dry tyres. Sebastian did a 19 lap run on intermediates, while in the morning Robert and Nick did just an installation lap each on these tyres. In the second free practice the two race drivers only went out with dry tyres. All three cars ran with no problems.
Toyota - Dieter GassAn uneventful practice session where we restricted our programme to a handful of laps in the second session when weather and track conditions improved.
Red Bull - N/AWe had a limited amount of time to work on the set-up of the car due to the conditions but we know what is required at Suzuka so that should not be a problem. I think it was a productive day for us. We had the opportunity to check the car balance on wet and dry tyres this afternoon and we will obviously have to look into the comparisons again tomorrow morning before we decide which tyres to choose. We are quite used to finalising our tyre choice on a Saturday morning so I don't think that is going to be a big problem for us. We encountered some graining on the front tyres but we think that will improve once the circuit gets rubbered in. Of course, we are still optimistic for the weekend.
Williams - Sam Michael
Spyker MF1 RacingWe had variable conditions today at Suzuka that meant we had to change our planned programme quite a bit. We did some work on the wet set-up, but conditions were really intermediate for most of the afternoon. In the last ten minutes of the second session, the track was ok for dry tyres. We sent Alex out to check both tyre compounds and the race cars did a run on dry tyres as well. The sessions today have given us some good data that we will work through tonight in order to make our decision in preparation for tomorrow?s qualifying.
Super Aguri - Aguri SuzukiTo be added
Toro Ross - N/AToday we had very difficult conditions in Suzuka, but I'm sure that on Saturday and Sunday we are going to have better weather. We had rain this morning, but conditions improved in the afternoon as the track became drier and drier. However all these changes made it very difficult for us to find good set-up for our cars. Franck did a good job today and he understands which tyre option is better for us. He has provided us with a lot of information which will be of great use when we try to find a good set-up tomorrow. I think that Taku and Sakon also did a good job today, so I am looking forward to the rest of this Japanese Grand Prix weekend.