Saturday First Free Practice - Australian GP
Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher again set the pace in practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher again set the pace in practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
However, the German's rivals could take comfort in a less dominant performance by the red cars on an overcast morning in Albert Park.
Schumacher shattered the lap record on Friday but his quickest lap in Saturday's opening session, one of two before qualifying, was 1:25.786 seconds compared to the previous 1:24.718.
Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello was again second on the timesheets, 0.373 behind the six times World Champion, while the Williams duo of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were third and fourth.
Montoya was 0.409 slower than Ferrari's Schumacher, compared to a deficit of nearly one and a half seconds on Friday when Ferrari looked ominously quick in practice for Sunday's season-opening race.
Britain's David Coulthard, last year's winner in Melbourne, was fifth for McLaren ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso in a Renault. Kimi Raikkonen, last season's runner-up for McLaren was seventh quickest.
The session was largely incident free, apart from Schumacher once running wide across the run-off and Brazilian Cristiano da Matta pulling over in his Toyota with a minute remaining.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:25.786 222.540 km/h 13 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:26.159 + 0.373 8 3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:26.195 + 0.409 13 4. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:26.390 + 0.604 11 5. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:26.428 + 0.642 5 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:26.610 + 0.824 7 7. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:26.725 + 0.939 6 8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:26.804 + 1.018 5 9. Trulli Renault (M) 1:26.817 + 1.031 14 10. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:26.995 + 1.209 11 11. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:27.107 + 1.321 16 12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:27.717 + 1.931 14 13. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:27.744 + 1.958 9 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:28.341 + 2.555 15 15. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:28.438 + 2.652 12 16. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:28.572 + 2.786 7 17. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:30.057 + 4.271 13 18. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:30.233 + 4.447 13 19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:31.310 + 5.524 12 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:33.024 + 7.238 14 All timing unofficial
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