Schumacher Fastest in First Qualifying - Austria
World Champion Michael Schumacher and his teammate Rubens Barrichello demonstrated the speed of Ferrari's new F2003-GA as they comfortably ended Friday qualifying for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix first and second fastest.
World Champion Michael Schumacher and his teammate Rubens Barrichello demonstrated the speed of Ferrari's new F2003-GA as they comfortably ended Friday qualifying for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix first and second fastest.
Schumacher controlled an enormous slide at the final corner, Mobilkom Kurve, to set the fastest time of 1:07.908 - inside last year's pole position time - while Barrichello's best of 1:08.187 was enough to secure second.
Mark Webber produced his now familiar qualifying trick of upsetting the top teams by posting the third fastest time in his Jaguar, ahead of BAR Honda teammates Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button.
Williams BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya and McLaren-Mercedes' teammates David Coulthard, fastest in morning practice, and Kimi Raikkonen, the Championship leader, filled the next three positions down to eighth.
There was disaster for Montoya's teammate and Schumacher's brother Ralf who spun and stalled his car in the Gosser Kurve gravel trap. As a consequence, he will be made to go out first in tomorrow's grid-deciding qualifying session.
His spin after 14 minutes caused the session to be briefly halted after an error between the Grosser and Niki Lauda corners on his single-lap run and his car had to be crane lifted out of the gravel trap.
The session was stopped for a second time when Briton Ralph Firman spun his Jordan as he exited the final corner and crashed into the wall on the pit straight.
The Briton rolled backwards over the line to set a time of 1:11.171, which put him one place above Ralf Schumacher at the bottom of the timesheets and 3.263 seconds behind Michael Schumacher.
Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia, responding well to news that his seat with the team is now safe, and Firman's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, fastest in early morning testing, completed the top ten.
Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (2) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 16.892 45.862 1:07.908 2. (4) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 17.098 46.261 1:08.187 + 0.279 3. (14) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 17.131 46.514 1:08.512 + 0.604 4. (11) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 17.181 46.333 1:08.680 + 0.772 5. (13) Button BAR Honda (B) 17.127 46.406 1:08.831 + 0.923 6. (7) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 17.220 46.538 1:08.839 + 0.931 7. (5) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 17.221 46.804 1:08.947 + 1.039 8. (1) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 17.272 46.688 1:08.978 + 1.070 9. (20) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 17.312 46.957 1:09.024 + 1.116 10. (8) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 17.457 46.752 1:09.281 + 1.373 11. (9) Trulli Renault (M) 17.477 46.925 1:09.450 + 1.542 12. (15) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 17.343 46.830 1:09.479 + 1.571 13. (3) Alonso Renault (M) 17.540 47.272 1:09.680 + 1.772 14. (17) Panis Toyota (M) 17.329 47.358 1:09.764 + 1.856 15. (10) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 17.501 47.022 1:10.055 + 2.147 16. (12) da Matta Toyota (M) 17.628 47.668 1:10.370 + 2.462 17. (18) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 17.558 47.690 1:10.894 + 2.986 18. (19) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 17.670 47.882 1:11.056 + 3.148 19. (16) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 17.265 46.850 1:11.171 + 3.263 20. (6) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 17.156 - No Time Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. M.Schumacher 16.892 M.Schumacher 28.970 Barrichello 21.926 2. Barrichello 17.098 Villeneuve 29.152 Webber 21.998 3. Button 17.127 Barrichello 29.163 M.Schumacher 22.046 4. Webber 17.131 Button 29.279 Pizzonia 22.067 5. R.Schumacher 17.156 Fisichella 29.295 Coulthard 22.143 6. Villeneuve 17.181 Montoya 29.318 Raikkonen 22.290 7. Montoya 17.220 Webber 29.383 Montoya 22.301 8. Coulthard 17.221 Raikkonen 29.416 Villeneuve 22.347 9. Firman 17.265 Trulli 29.448 Panis 22.406 10. Raikkonen 17.272 Heidfeld 29.487 Alonso 22.408 11. Pizzonia 17.312 Frentzen 29.521 Button 22.425 12. Panis 17.329 Coulthard 29.583 Trulli 22.525 13. Heidfeld 17.343 Firman 29.585 Fisichella 22.529 14. Fisichella 17.457 Pizzonia 29.645 Heidfeld 22.649 15. Trulli 17.477 Alonso 29.732 da Matta 22.702 16. Frentzen 17.501 Panis 30.029 Frentzen 23.033 17. Alonso 17.540 da Matta 30.040 Wilson 23.174 18. Verstappen 17.558 Verstappen 30.132 Verstappen 23.204 19. da Matta 17.628 Wilson 30.212 Firman 24.321 20. Wilson 17.670 Top Speed: 312.5 (Villeneuve, BAR-Honda) All timing unofficial
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