Schumacher dominates warm-up
Michael Schumacher took another step towards the world title as he dominated warm-up for the Japanese Grand Prix beneath cloudy skies.
The weather forecast is for rain half an hour into the race according to Tokyo forecasters and a few drops fell on the paddock before the half-hour session began.
Schumacher fired in a flying lap in the final seconds of the session to go half a second quicker than title rival Mika Hakkinen in second place. The Finn's confidence must have taken another knock even though he knows he has won this race from the same second position for the last two years.
Rubens Barrichello was third and David Coulthard fourth, a reversal of their grid positions, indicating the Ferraris are competitive in race trim. While outgoing Williams driver Jenson Button continued to be best of the rest with the fifth fastest time and his Spa sparring partner Jarno Trulli, who starts 15th, was sixth quickest.
Ralf Schumacher was seventh and Jacques Villeneuve, who has the highest tally of spins this weekend (totalling four), looking more competitive in race set-up than qualifying, was eighth quickest.
Gaston Mazzacane ended up at the bottom of the times after spinning off in the final curve of the esses behind the pits.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments