:::DOCTOR GELIGA:::The Ideas Hut:::

Kimi Raikonnen

Kimi Raikkonen continued his imperious form on the final day of testing at Silverstone, topping the times by an extraordinary margin of 1.6 seconds in his McLaren.

In the process the Finn lopped well over a second off his own Thursday benchmark, dipping down into the 1m16s bracket while only two of the other 11 drivers present made it into the 1m18s!
On this form it is difficult to see who can beat the Raikkonen/McLaren combination when the F1 circus reconvenes at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix in early July.

Best of the rest on Friday were the Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, while Giancarlo Fisichella was the top Renault representative in fourth. The Anglo-French team encountered some technical problems in the course of the day and points leader Fernando Alonso was only seventh quickest.

The Renaults were split by Juan Pablo Montoya, back at the wheel of his McLaren after missing yesterday’s action, and Mark Webber, who brought out the red flag when he went off but still managed to complete a full complement of 81 laps.

David Coulthard was fastest of a trio of Red Bull drivers, but was virtually matched by impressive young American Scott Speed, whose performance convinced the team to name him as its third driver for the North American races

Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari was the single interloper among the massed ranks of the Michelin-shod cars, and the Brazilian propped up the timesheets.
The Italian team had a happier time on home ground at Monza, where Marc Gene was fastest once again from BAR's Anthony Davidson, who logged a mammoth 145 laps while carrying out preparations for the Canadian

Grand Prix.Friday testing times from Silverstone
1. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m16.953s
2. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m18.575s
3. TRULLI Toyota 1m18.856s
4. FISICHELLA Renault 1m19.126s
5. MONTOYA McLaren 1m19.163s
6. WEBBER Williams 1m19.618s
7. ALONSO Renault 1m19.714s
8. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m19.928s
9. ROSBERG Williams 1m19.949s
10. SPEED Red Bull 1m19.992s
11. KLIEN Red Bull 1m20.151s
12. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m20.155s

Friday testing times from Monza
1. GENE Ferrari 1m21.431s
2. DAVIDSON BAR 1m21.811s
3. MASSA Sauber 1m21.937s
4. BERNOLDI BAR 1m22.642s