Pre-qual: Rubens on top
Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fastest in pre-qualifying for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams and the surprise of the session, Toyota's Olivier Panis. They will get the best of the track conditions in the qualifying session that follows
Barrichello produced by far the quickest lap of the weekend in pre-qualifying, a stunning 1m09.454s. Montoya got closest to it, the Colombian 'benefiting' from his Canadian GP exclusion to run late in the session. He was still 0.370secs off Barrichello's pace, however.
Panis produced the real talking point, though. His 1m09.923s didn't exactly come out of the blue, as he was quick in the last free practice session too, but you bet your bottom dollar that Honda didn't expect to be put in the shade by its Japanese rival.
Takuma Sato was dumped to fourth fastest, one thousandth of a second quicker than Ralf Schumacher's Williams. Fernando Alonso (Renault), Cristiano da Matta (Toyota), Jenson Button (BAR) and Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) were all covered by less than half a tenth, so roll on qualifying...
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