Formula 1 heavyweights slug it out
Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher went toe to toe in an enthralling first practice duel ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
The McLaren star and seven-time world champion slugged it out for almost half a lap around the 3.6-mile Monza circuit, with the Finn holding sway as the German tried to pass down the Variante Ascari, Parabolica and pit straight.
It ensured a lively end to an otherwise mundane opening hour of practice as eight of the 25 drivers opted not to record a time, instead preserving engines given the high-speed nature of the circuit.
Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Christian Klien, world championship leader Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher completed nothing more than an installation lap or two.
It was left to McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa to typically lead the way, proving the power of the car at a track where they are comfortably expected to win.
De la Rosa’s time of one minute 20.201 seconds was almost a second quicker than the lap record set by Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari on his way to winning last year’s race.
That followed on the back of Juan Pablo Montoya becoming the fastest Formula One car through one of the speed traps, hitting 251mph in testing last week.
The Williams of Mark Webber was the quickest of the race drivers, but was 1.6 seconds down on de la Rosa, with Raikkonen and Montoya in close attendance to the Australian.
Nick Heidfeld in the second Williams, Toyota’s tester Ricardo Zonta, the BAR of Takuma Sato and Schumacher completed the top eight.
Schumacher’s short stint on track proved highly eventful as he missed the turn through the Rettifilio, resulting in the 36-year-old weaving his Ferrari around the barriers in the run-off area before returning to the circuit.
That came in the final 10 minutes, the start of which had seen just 10 drivers post a time – with five of those the testers – before a late flurry, with David Coulthard ninth quickest for Red Bull Racing with a time of 1:24.001.
