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Michael
Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello ended the first day of
practice for the San Marino Grand Prix in sixth and seventh
places respectively. Apart from a slight problem on the
Brazilian’s car in the morning, both men completed a lot of
laps (38 for Schumacher, 32 for Barrichello) which was the
legacy of not having completed many laps with these engines
which had also been used in the previous race in Bahrain.
The two drivers
were happy with their day’s work, as they validated the
benefits of the improvements introduced on the F2005 after
intensive testing since the last grand prix.
Juan Pablo
Montoya has still not recovered from his shoulder injury and
standing in at McLaren-Mercedes is Alexander Wurz, while
Pedro de la Rosa, who finished fifth in Bahrain takes on
testing duties. It was the Spaniard who posted the quickest
time today (1’20”484) ahead of the BAR-Honda of Jenson
Button, the Englishman claiming that his team had also made
significant progress since Bahrain. Kimi Raikkonen was third
for McLaren-Mercedes, with Toyota’s third driver, Ricardo
Zonta in fourth spot. Just ahead of Michael, was the winner
of the last two races, Fernando Alonso in the Renault.
Another change
on the driver front this weekend concerns the Red Bull
Racing team. Vitantonio Liuzzi, who has been performing
third driver duties for the team so far this season, is
being given his chance as race driver for the next three
grands prix. Christian Klien, who scored points for the team
in the first two races, is now the Friday driver.
While this is
the closest race venue to the Ferrari factory in Maranello,
the team with the closest factory to the Enzo e Dino Ferrari
circuit is actually Minardi, based just a few kilometres
away in Faenza and the team introduced its new 2005 car
today, although it still left both Friesacher and Albers at
the bottom of the time sheet.
Jean Todt: “We are
happy to be here at Imola for the first European race. It
would be good if the championship started today, but that is
not the case and we have come to the fourth round of the
season, with a big gap to close to the leaders. This is a
special race for the team, as it is the nearest to Maranello
and for me on a personal level, as I have the honour, along
with Michael, of once again taking on the role of ambassador
of the Republic of San Marino. As usual today, we worked on
car set-up and a comparison of the two types of Bridgestone
tyre at our disposal. While taking into account the usual
Friday unknowns – amount of fuel on board and variable track
conditions – our evaluation of today’s work can be a
positive one. This Friday has provided an encouraging sign
for the rest of the weekend.”
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