Fisichella on a flyer in France
Giancarlo Fisichella raised hopes of a Renault victory on home soil by setting the fastest time in today’s final practice for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.
The Italian, who has been beset by bad luck this season since winning the opening race in Australia, gave Renault’s home fans something to cheer on a grey morning in central France.
Overnight rain left the track damp and grey clouds greeted the crowds this morning and the Magny-Courstrack was damp, forcing drivers to use intermediate tyres and pushing lap times up in the first session.
But the surface eventually began to dry and by the halfway point in the second session lap times were beginning to near yesterday’s best and Fisichella’s lap of one minute 14.466 seconds was marginally slower than Pedro de la Rosa managed yesterday.
Ralf Schumacher, who yesterday revealed his pet dog has been kidnapped, raised hopes of his first podium finish for Toyota by setting the second fastest time, just 0.137secs down on Fisichella.
Kimi Raikkonen put the disappointment of his 10-place grid penalty for an engine change to the back of his mind to set the third quickest time in his McLaren while world championship leader Fernando Alonso was on the pace for Renault in fourth.
World champion Michael Schumacher, who won the six-car parade in Indianapolis two weeks ago to move back into the title chase, maintained his promsing form from yesterday to finish fifth for Ferrari.
Takuma Sato was sixth while his BAR-Honda team-mate Jenson Button was down in ninth, two clear of Red Bull’s David Coulthard.
In first practice Alonso was one of the few drivers to bother setting a flying lap and his time of 1min 23.939secs put him in the clear at the top of the timing sheets.
He had little competition though, with only nine drivers setting a time and neither Ferrari even leaving the pits.
Alonso’s Renault team-mate Fisichella was second quickest, almost a second behind, with his world title rival Raikkonen third for McLaren.
