The second session has finished over in Bahrain. and here are the results

1.  DAVIDSON     Honda       1m31.353s
2.  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari     1m31.751s
3.  WURZ         Williams    1m31.764s
4.  MASSA        Ferrari     1m32.175s
5.  ALONSO       Renault     1m32.538s
6.  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso  1m32.703s
7.  DOORNBOS     Red Bull    1m32.926s
8.  FISICHELLA   Renault     1m33.215s
9.  BUTTON       Honda       1m33.226s
10. KUBICA       BMW         1m33.244s
11. KLIEN        Red Bull    1m33.557s
12. RAIKKONEN    McLaren     1m33.577s
13. MONTOYA      McLaren     1m33.726s
14. HEIDFELD     BMW         1m33.848s
15. JANI         Toro Rosso  1m33.900s
16. SPEED        Toro Rosso  1m34.284s
17. WEBBER       Williams    1m34.333s
18. BARRICHELLO  Honda       1m34.384s
19. COULTHARD    Red Bull    1m34.432s
20. MONTEIRO     Midland     1m34.459s
21. ROSBERG      Williams    1m34.953s
22. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota      1m35.170s
23. WINKELHOCK   Midland     1m35.686s
24. TRULLI       Toyota      1m35.898s
25. VILLENEUVE   BMW         1m36.264s
26. ALBERS       Midland     1m36.314s
27. SATO         Super Aguri 1m37.588s
28. IDE          Super Aguri 1m39.021s

So a couple of things of note. The Honda has proved that it can be a quick car as everyone has been saying over the winter testing. The next fastest person on the track was Shumi’ nearly half a second slower (although his lap was a do or die one at the end of the session).

The shock (or not) is that the Torro Rosso V10 powered car has shown that it is a quick package, the inside track rumors that the V10’s restrictions where not enough seem to be showing some form of being correct.

The Race drivers showed that they are obviously trying to keep the engines in good condition as nearly none of the race drivers are as quick as there test driver equivalents (Honda especially), another shock is how low down the field the Toyota’s are, although Trulli had technical problems mid session.

Massa showed he could at least match the times Barrichello used to run at Ferrari (about half a second slower), and the more he gets used to the car the faster he should become.

Alonso finished the session fifth, but apparently looked like he was driving well within himself, so more to come there.

The times are down to around 1 second slower than last years times, I predict that we may even see lap times being equaled or bettered from last year. Why? well I think the aero guys have had a year to streamline the aero packages, and the tyre manufacturers have taken another step (they can change them again this year), that and the fact the V8’s are producing more power than the FIA thought they probably would means that the speed of the cars this year will not be significantly lower than last.

Like I said before should be a good season.