Pre-qual: Schuey dominates
No one could hold a candle to the combination of Michael Schumacher, Ferrari and, perhaps most importantly, Bridgestone tyres in pre-qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Schuey will go last in qualifying proper, thanks to his time which was a second clear of the field
The Bridgestone rubber revels in wet conditions, and that's exactly what we got at Spa on Saturday. Despite being out first, as usual, Schumacher's 1m53.755s was a blinding effort. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with the same equipment on offer, was 1.1secs slower, while the third fastest, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, was 1.6secs off the pace as the top Michelin runner.
The fourth placed Sauber of Felipe Massa, was 2.3secs off the fastest time, while his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth quickest, just 0.011s slower than Massa. Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) was sixth fastest, with David Coulthard's McLaren just a tenth shy, while Fernando Alonso's Renault was a further second in arrears. His team-mate Jarno Trulli was next up, ahead of the BARs of Jenson Button and Takuma Sato. The second Williams of Antonio Pizzonia was 12th following his shunt this morning.
It was another bad day for Toyota, as it suffered its second high-speed off of the weekend. This time it was Ricardo Zonta who lost control at the 120mph Pouhon bend and spun into the gravel trap. Fortunately, he was able to scrub off a lot of speed and just dinged the barrier slightly. The Brazilian was able to regain the track and crept back to the pits.
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