Formula One news
Second session: Vettel beats Schumacher
08 September 2006 / Results / PhotosSebastian Vettel topped the practice timesheets for the second time today with a 1.22.631s, as Ferrari also showed its pace. BMW's third driver was half a second quicker than fellow countryman Michael Schumacher who was second fastest, just ahead of teammate Felipe Massa.
Fourth fastest was Williams' third driver Alexander Wurz and rounding off the top six were Pedro de la Rosa and Kimi Raikkonen - the McLaren drivers within a second of the Ferraris. Fernando Alonso posted a best of 1.24.577s to end up eighth fastest as neither Renault drivers showed any real signs of pace.
Overcast conditions oversaw the session but there is yet to be any sign of rain. Adding to the cloud cover was Anthony Davidson's Honda engine, which let go early on in the session. This was Davidson's second engine failure today as the replacement power unit lasted only ten minutes longer than its predecessor had done in this morning's session. Honda will almost certainly have to revert back to its original engine for the weekend as the manufacturer's plans to make gains before the 'engine freeze' suffer a major blow. As a result of the engine troubles, Honda teammates Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello sat out the session, meaning that neither drivers got any running time today.
Otherwise, there were no real problems for the teams - only a few drivers had off moments as they acclimatised to the low-downforce set-ups. Vettel, however, proved he had no problems getting used to the fastest race on the F1 calendar when, with seven minutes left of the session, he bettered seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher's fastest time. It is most likely that he was on a low fuel run but at 19 years of age he continues to impress.
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