By Huw Alban
May 5 2006

Adrian Sutil had a horrible test at Silverstone last week, but really showed his colours during the second free practice session this afternoon. Despite a slow start the German suddenly rocketted up the timesheets with a stunning 10th fastest lap time. Qualifying could get interesting!

The second free practice session started frantically for Midland F1 with all three drivers taking to the circuit as soon as the session started. Adrian Sutil posted the fastest lap time of all those on track, but we knew it'd be beaten, and it duly was by the Honda 3rd driver Anthony Davidson. Little did we know though that this was a taste of things to come.

45 minutes in and Adrian was still out and circulating, with Christijan and Tiago languishing in 14th and 17th places and in the pit garage. The Dutchman comes out again 5 minutes later but is unable to beat is current fastest time, in fact he is loosing over a second per sector over the entire lap. After a few laps Albers pits and Monteiro has another go, but it is the same story with the popular Portuguese driver slow in all sectors. Adrian joins in again and jumps to 17th on his first flying lap. At the moment it is the German 3rd driver that is showing the way.

With 17 minutes to go I had a glance at our forum. Fans were heaping praise on Adrian, but getting really concerned about the two race drivers pace. Our contacts within the team revealed to us that brake balance and traction control setup were still being fine tuned, and that there was nothing to worry about.

5 minutes later both race drivers are back out, but with no apparent improvement in lap times.

It all come together in the last 5 minutes. My email client bleeped at me. "Watch CA on this lap....", said the message. All three sectors green and a corking 1.34.472 and 11th place for Christijan. No sooner had that lap finished when email bleeped again. "Now AS...", it said. Adrian posted better green sectors on his next flying lap to post a 1.34.179 just 0.600 off the current pace time set by Fernando Alonso! I'm sorry but I jumped up and banged my head on the low cellar ceiling - but I didn't care! Midland F1 were in the top 10!

The session finished with Sutil retaining his 10th place, Christijan in 12th, and Monteiro improving slightly to claim 25th just ahead of the two Super Aguri drivers.

The qualifying runs could be very interesting to watch tomorrow, and we'll be there to cover both it and the third free practice.

Full list of times from the second free practice session for the European Grand Prix:

1 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:32.675
2 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:33.579
3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:33.619
4 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:33.799
5 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:33.870
6 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:33.883
7 Jenson Button Honda 1:33.920
8 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:33.991
9 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:34.030
10 Adrian Sutil MF1-Toyota 1:34.179
11 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:34.215
12 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:34.472
13 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.536
14 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:34.546
15 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:34.631
16 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:34.825
17 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.968
18 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:35.066
19 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:35.241
20 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:35.308
21 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:35.406
22 Neel Jani STR-Cosworth 1:35.479
23 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:35.669
24 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:35.688
25 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:35.902
26 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.255
27 Franck Montagny Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.665