OCTOBER 14, 2005

CHINESE GP - FRIDAY - PRACTICE SESSION 1 REPORT

McLaren on top as ever

Pedro de la Rosa, Chinese GP 2005 

 © The Cahier Archive

PEDRO DE LA ROSA set the pace at the start of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix with a best lap that was 1.8secs clear of the rest of the Formula 1 field, indicating that the order of those behind him was not very significant. There were quite a lot of incidents with Kimi Raikkonen going off a couple of times as he pushed the limits of the McLaren. There were also offs for several other drivers, the most notable being Giancarlo Fisichella, who spun off into the gravel and so did only five laps in the session. In fact this was the same number as Raikkonen. Others to have off track moments were Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher and most of the backmarkers.

Second fastest in the session was Rubens Barrichello with Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta third and Raikkonen fourth ahead of Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. The top 10 was completed by David Coulthard in his Red Bull and Jenson Button in the BAR-Honda.