Saturday First Free Practice - French GP
Spaniard Fernando Alonso took the early initiative on Saturday morning as he topped the times in the day's first practice session for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso took the early initiative on Saturday morning as he topped the times in the day's first practice session for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.
Renault driver Alonso was quickest with a lap time of 1:16.076 as he outpaced Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello by one-tenth of a second.
Ralf Schumacher, of the Williams-BMW team, claimed the third fastest time ahead of world champion brother Michael, who was 0.419 seconds down on Alonso in fourth.
Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya and McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard took fifth and sixth respectively with Kimi Raikkonen seventh in the second McLaren.
Toyota pair Cristiano Da Matta and Olivier Panis both earned places in the top-ten as they finished eighth and 10th with Renault driver Jarno Trulli sandwiched in between them.
BAR-Honda drivers Jenson Button and Jacques Villeneuve completed their first practice session as they ended 13th and 14th in the times after being barred from taking to the track on Friday.
Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia left the track in a largely incident free session, while Button parked his car by the side of the track at the end of the 45-minute practice with a smoking engine.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:16.076 208.733 km/h 24 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:16.190 + 0.114 19 3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:16.291 + 0.215 20 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.495 + 0.419 15 5. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:16.687 + 0.611 21 6. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:16.840 + 0.764 19 7. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:17.050 + 0.974 13 8. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:17.118 + 1.042 25 9. Trulli Renault (M) 1:17.123 + 1.047 14 10. Panis Toyota (M) 1:17.186 + 1.110 18 11. Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:17.197 + 1.121 21 12. Button BAR Honda (B) 1:17.341 + 1.265 22 13. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:17.452 + 1.376 20 14. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:17.959 + 1.883 16 15. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:18.295 + 2.219 15 16. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:18.455 + 2.379 13 17. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 1:18.749 + 2.673 14 18. Firman Jordan Ford (B) 1:18.876 + 2.800 17 19. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:19.089 + 3.013 21 20. Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:19.948 + 3.872 17 All Timing Unofficial
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