Bad start for McLaren in
Japan
McLarens chances of retaining their lead in the
constructors world championship took a dip this morning when Kimi
Raikkonens MP4-20 ground to a halt with suspected engine failure
in Turn 4 after just eight laps in this mornings practice
session.
The Finn had lapped in 1m 33.486s, which left him only 13th in the
order and facing a 10 grid place penalty should he require an
engine change.
There was a ray of sunshine on an overcast day for the team,
however, after test driver Pedro de la Rosa set the fastest time in
1m 30.532s. This was comfortably faster than Toyota test driver
Ricardo Zonta, who managed 1m 31.075s before his TF105B ground to a
halt in Turn 8 after 16 laps.
Jenson Button and Takuma Sato have got off to a good start for BAR
Honda on the latters homeground, the Englishman setting third
fastest time of 1m 32.043s, the Japanese the eighth in 1m 32.791s.
In between them, David Coulthard got in a quick one for Red Bull in
1m 32.229s to head Brazilian Grand Prix victor Juan Pablo Montoya
(1m 32.321s), new world champion Fernando Alonso (1m 32.370s) and
Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 32.470s).
Mark Webber lapped his Williams in 1m 33.098s for ninth best time,
with Christian Klien completing the top 10 for Red Bull in 1m
33.139s.
Felipe Massa was 11th for Sauber in 1m 33.257s to head Vitantonio
Liuzzi in the third Red Bull (1m 33.441s), Raikkonen, Antonio
Pizzonia (1m 33.528s), Jacques Villeneuve (who spun approaching the
chicane after lapping in 1m 33.645s), Rubens Barrichello (1m
33.700s), Ralf Schumacher (1m 33.735s) and Michael Schumacher (1m
33.886s).
Jarno Trulli was 19th for Toyota with a best lap of 1m 34.535s,
while newcomer Sakon Yamamoto, a Toyota GT and Formula Nippon
racer, lapped fastest of the three Jordan drivers in an impressive
1m 36.295s to run ahead of Christijan Albers Minardi (1m 37.153s),
Narain Karthikeyans Jordan (1m 37.154s), Tiago Monteiro (1m
37.250s) and Robert Doornboss Minardi (1m 38.742s).
Right now the sky is very heavy, and with rain forecast for the
rest of the day this might turn out to be the only time today that
the cars ran on dry road.
