Davidson fastest in practice 1 - Australia
Honda test driver Anthony Davidson topped the times in opening practice for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, the British driver finishing ahead of Dutchman Robert Doornbos in a Red Bull Ferrari
On a cool, cloudy and windy morning at Albert Park, and in front of a sparse crowd in the grandstands, Davidson dominated the first hour-long session, which ran without major incident.
Few of the leading drivers took much part until the final minutes, as expected, but there were moments of concern for a handful of men who took unscheduled excursions off the circuit.
The first of these came after 14 minutes when Neel Jani, in a Scuderia Toro Rosso car, went off at turn 9, his car coming to a halt in the gravel trap.
Twenty minutes later, Robert Kubica's BMW-Sauber appeared to blow an engine, and he parked his car close to turn 1 before walking back to the pits.
The Polish driver was at that time threatening to produce a notably fast lap in the session.
There were few other note-worthy incidents then apart from the installation laps run by some of the leading drivers - and an off-track run across the grass from Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in his BMW Sauber - until the final minutes.
Then, in quick succession, Ralf Schumacher in his Toyota, Kimi Raikkonen in his McLaren-Mercedes and Doornbos, in his Red Bull, went off at turns 6, 6 and 3 respectively, but without other mishap.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Davidson Honda (M) 1:28.259 26 2. Doornbos Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:28.559 + 0.300 19 3. Villeneuve BMW-Sauber (M) 1:28.595 + 0.336 16 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:28.713 + 0.454 5 5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:29.025 + 0.766 7 6. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:29.041 + 0.782 5 7. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:29.411 + 1.152 5 8. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:29.461 + 1.202 19 9. Kubica BMW-Sauber (M) 1:29.576 + 1.317 13 10. Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:29.601 + 1.342 7 11. Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:29.676 + 1.417 9 12. Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:31.017 + 2.758 8 13. Albers MF1-Toyota (B) 1:31.039 + 2.780 9 14. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) 1:31.812 + 3.553 10 15. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:34.036 + 5.777 9 16. Ide Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:36.684 + 8.425 19 17. Winkelhock MF1-Toyota (B) 1:36.859 + 8.600 17 18. Jani Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:40.818 +12.559 4 19. Alonso Renault (M) No time 2 20. Fisichella Renault (M) No time 2 21. Trulli Toyota (B) No time 2 22. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) No time 1 23. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (M) No time 1 24. Barrichello Honda (M) No time 1 25. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) No time 2 26. Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) No time 27. Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) No time 28. Button Honda (M) No time All timing unofficial
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