...the latest news from around the world, courtesy of press snoop Lynne Huntting.
All 22 of the formula One cars entered in the 2006 Australian Grand Prix have "been found to conform with the safety requirements of the 2006
FIA Formula One Technical Regulations."
Further, six drivers will be allowed to practice Friday: ALEXANDER WURZ of Austria/No.35
Williams F1 Team/Williams Cosworth; ANTHONY DAVIDSON of Great Britain/No.36 Lucky Strike
Honda Racing F1 Team/Honda; ROBERT DOOMBOS of the Netherlands/No.37
Red Bull Racing/RBR Ferrari; ROBERT KUBICA/No.38
BMW Sauber F1 Team/BMW; MARKUS WINKELHOCK of Germany/No.39 MF1 Racing/MF1 Toyota; and NEEL JANI of Switzerland/No.40 Scuderia Toro Rosso/
STR Cosworth.
The top ten F1 qualifiers in the third session of Qualifying may replace the fuel used in that session at 8:30am ADT. The cars can take on 2.90 kg of fuel for each lap completed which is under the 110 percent rule.
Saturday night Melbourne goes to Daylight Savings Time, putting clocks back an hour. So everyone gets an extra night's sleep before the F1 race. The annual switch usually occurs a week earlier, but was postponed because of the Commonwealth Games.
Thursday's attendance at Albert Park was 43,600. The schedule included the National events - V8's, Formula 3, V8 Utes, Carrera Cup, plus Historic Demonstrations and the Ultimate Speed Demonstration.
Some of the F1 drivers were at the track Thursday. RUBENS BARRICHELLO/Honda
F1, GIANCARLO FISICHELLA/
Renault, JUAN PABLO MONTOYA/
McLaren, and MARK WEBBER/Williams held forth at the Thursday afternoon FIA F1 Press Conference. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER/
Ferrari showed up late in the afternoon, after many but not all of the eager fans had given up hope outside the F1 pit entrance. So many congregate on the access road intersection outside the gates that a special mini-grandstand has been set up for them.
