Formula 1

Alonso still top at Paul Ricard

For the second day of testing at the Paul Ricard HTTT there were once again 12 drivers on track, preparing for Monaco and beyond. Renault's Fernando Alonso was a couple of tenths quicker than his best time yesterday and was at the top of the list ...

Published: May 18, 2006, 8:30 PM

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For the second day of testing at the Paul Ricard HTTT there were once again 12 drivers on track, preparing for Monaco and beyond. Renault's Fernando Alonso was a couple of tenths quicker than his best time yesterday and was at the top of the list with a 1:05.363. Team tester Heikki Kovalainen was second, just under two tenths down.

Fernando Alonso.

Photo by xpb.cc.

Tyres were their main focus. "We worked pretty well these past two days and it was a very productive session for the preparation of Monaco," said chief test engineer Christian Silk. "We did good progress and the drivers seem to be pleased with the set up of the car. We are very satisfied and confident."

Jacques Villeneuve's BMW Sauber was third fastest and teammate Nick Heidfeld rounded off the times in 12th. The pair worked on set up for Monaco and aerodynamic evaluation, as well as tyres. Test driver Robert Kubica is due to take over from Heidfeld on Thursday.

Christian Klien was the lead Red Bull in fourth, while David Coulthard took over from tester Robert Doornbos and was eighth fastest, half a second behind Klien. Sister team Toro Rosso was also at work and Tonio Liuzzi was 11th overall.

Jarno Trulli's Toyota was fifth on the time sheet and teammate Ralf Schumacher was 10th. They continued work on the revised TF106B chassis that will make its debut at Monaco. Team test drivers Ricardo Zonta and Olivier Panis are scheduled to take over for the next two days of the four day programme.

Felipe Massa continued for Ferrari and was sixth on the time sheet. He carried on with a tyre programme started yesterday, while at Fiorano Michael Schumacher took over from tester Luca Badoer. The German's work was set up and new components and he clocked a best time of 57.367 over 113 laps.

Juan Pablo Montoya led the duo of McLaren racers at Paul Ricard in seventh and Kimi Raikkonen was ninth. They continued with preparations for Monaco including tyres, set up, cooling and bodywork. Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett, the team's two test drivers, are scheduled to take over for Thursday and Friday.

Honda and Williams continued with their programmes at Vallelunga in Italy, where Jenson Button was the fastest man of the day. The Honda driver set a best of 1:02.051 and team tester Anthony Davidson was second quickest, four and a half tenths off. They worked on tyres, aerodynamics and set up.

Mark Webber was third for Williams and tester Alex Wurz was fourth. "Alex completed some tyre warm up tests and set-up changes this morning, while Mark concentrated on set-up work," said test team manager Mike Condliffe. "The rest of the day was spent working through a tyre test to select the compounds for the Monaco race."

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