Friday First Free Practice - Italian GP
Michael Schumacher led a Ferrari one-two in opening practice as the World Champions showed they mean to celebrate their title victory by winning the Italian Grand Prix in front of their home crowd at Monza.
Michael Schumacher led a Ferrari one-two in opening practice as the World Champions showed they mean to celebrate their title victory by winning the Italian Grand Prix in front of their home crowd at Monza.
German Schumacher set the pace with a time of 1:20.526 to finish 0.335 seconds ahead of Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello and the pair left their rivals behind once again.
Briton Anthony Davidson finished the fastest runner-up to the scarlet machines and his best lap was good enough to put him just 0.376 seconds off the pace of Schumacher's lead Ferrari.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who won the last race in Belgium, finished fourth fastest in his McLaren with Renault pair Fernando Alonso, of Spain, and Jarno Trulli, of Italy, fifth and seventh having been split by Briton Jenson Button's BAR.
Jaguar test driver Bjorn Wirdheim, of Sweden, claimed eighth place while the Williams pair of Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top ten runners.
The session was run in temperatures of 25 degrees after morning cloud cleared to reveal sunny skies but there was little incident with Schumacher twice ran wide onto the dirt and several other drivers pushing to find the limits.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:20.526 10 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:20.861 + 0.335 4 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:20.902 + 0.376 25 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.637 + 1.111 5 5. Alonso Renault (M) 1:21.778 + 1.252 10 6. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.904 + 1.378 5 7. Trulli Renault (M) 1:22.052 + 1.526 11 8. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.065 + 1.539 24 9. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.159 + 1.633 9 10. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.232 + 1.706 9 11. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:22.245 + 1.719 8 12. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.248 + 1.722 5 13. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:22.259 + 1.733 13 14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:22.460 + 1.934 11 15. Panis Toyota (M) 1:22.487 + 1.961 8 16. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:22.607 + 2.081 10 17. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:22.815 + 2.289 21 18. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.071 + 2.545 7 19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:23.333 + 2.807 28 20. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:23.696 + 3.170 16 21. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.723 + 3.197 7 22. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:24.000 + 3.474 11 23. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:24.412 + 3.886 10 24. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:26.062 + 5.536 11 25. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:26.161 + 5.635 13 All timing unofficial
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