Suzuka, 6th October 2006

When the rain started falling late on Thursday afternoon at Suzuka Circuit, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team members were not too bothered, as although a small group of them including Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa were playing football, they were actually conducting the game indoors! However, when the rain still had not eased up as this morning's first free practice session got underway, the championship leader and his team-mate opted to stay in the dry in the garage. Michael and Felipe were the only two not to even do an installation lap, but only eleven drivers actually recorded a lap time. The forecast predicted the rain would ease up later in the day and then disappear completely for the rest of the weekend, so the Ferrari men decided to wait for the second hour of free practice. Even this session, that started at 2 o'clock got underway on a damp track, although in about the last ten minutes a line dry enough to use dry weather tyres finally appeared.

All twenty nine cars were out on track during this hour and in the end, it was the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella that set the quickest time in just over 1m 34s at what is the longest lap on the F1 calendar. Then came the Ferrari duo of Felipe and Michael, followed by the man who is level on points with Schumacher, but currently second in the Drivers' classification by virtue of one less race win, Fernando Alonso in the second Renault. Interestingly, the third drivers had unusually been kept out of the top slots, but Anthony Davidson was the best of the Friday only bunch in fifth place for Honda, while the youngster Sebastian Vettel took his BMW-Sauber to sixth spot, a commendable performance on his first visit to this tricky circuit. The lack of laps, with both Ferrari men doing ten, means there is plenty of work yet to do in tomorrow morning's final hour of free practice prior to the afternoon's qualifying, but that situation is the same for most of the front runners.