08/09/2006
NEWS STORY
BMW's 19-year-old test driver Sebastian Vettel was quickest in both free practice sessions on the opening day of the Italian Grand Prix meeting at Monza. The German lapped the 5.793-kilometre (3.599-mile) circuit in 1m 22.631s this afternoon to head an aggregates top 10 that included seven Michelin drivers.
Robert Kubica was fifth ahead of Pedro de la Rosa, Kimi Raikkonen, Neel Jani, Nick Heidfeld and world championship leader Fernando Alonso.
Nick Shorrock, Michelin Formula One director: "As we saw in testing last week, the resurfaced areas of the track are less abrasive than they used to be – a factor that has enabled us to use softer tyre compounds here at Monza.
"Our partner teams have taken significantly different strategic approaches this weekend and we have brought 10 different products to suit their individual requirements. Today's results have endorsed what we found during last week's test, which is pleasing. Obviously teams are not yet running at full race pace, but we have seen no signs of blistering or graining. We don't have as big an information pool as usual, because circumstances unfortunately prevented Honda from doing much running, but our other partners completed a useful number of long and short runs that have given us some useful comparative data.
"It is clear that we are able to run quickly and consistently on long runs and I'm looking forward to seeing how we fare in qualifying tomorrow. One of the key objectives of last week's test was to improve our first-lap performance. We have clearly made strides forward in this area and the tyres we are using this weekend incorporate some of these latest ideas."
To check out our Italy practice gallery, click here