Schumacher Fastest in First Qualifying - Britain
World Champion Michael Schumacher topped the times in the first qualifying session for the British Grand Prix today when he set a blistering pace around the Silverstone circuit.
World Champion Michael Schumacher topped the times in the first qualifying session for the British Grand Prix today when he set a blistering pace around the Silverstone circuit.
Schumacher, who leads the World Championship from Finn Kimi Raikkonen by eight points, went out first under cloudy skies and set an impressive lap of 1:19.474 in his Ferrari.
The German driver has won just once in the last four races after rivals Williams-BMW rapidly returned to form and despite Ferrari topping the times they demonstrated they should be a force to be reckoned with again this weekend.
Their Colombian driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, finished second fastest just 0.275 seconds off the pace while German Ralf Schumacher, in the second Williams-BMW, was 0.314 seconds behind his brother.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished fourth, just 0.052 seconds ahead of Toyota's Olivier Panis, of France, with his Italian Renault teammate Jarno Trulli sixth a further four thousandths of a second slower.
Scot David Coulthard, in his home race, finished seventh for McLaren-Mercedes but his teammate Raikkonen made a mistake in the middle sector and finished more than one and a half seconds behind down in 12th place.
Australian Mark Webber claimed eighth fastest time for Jaguar with BAR-Honda driver Jenson Button heading Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, of Toyota, to complete the top ten.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello lost his chance of matching his teammate when the back end of his Ferrari snapped away from him and he slid off into the gravel trap at Brooklands and failed to complete his lap.
Minardi driver Justin Wilson, making his first Formula One appearance on home soil, also failed to set a time after stopping on his parade lap and parking his car at turn three.
Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (1) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 26.013 59.247 1:19.474 2. (4) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 26.118 59.403 1:19.749 + 0.275 3. (3) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 26.146 59.472 1:19.788 + 0.314 4. (6) Alonso Renault (M) 26.176 59.656 1:19.907 + 0.433 5. (15) Panis Toyota (M) 26.118 59.599 1:19.959 + 0.485 6. (8) Trulli Renault (M) 26.160 59.650 1:19.963 + 0.489 7. (7) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 26.285 59.597 1:19.968 + 0.494 8. (9) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 26.503 60.113 1:20.171 + 0.697 9. (11) Button BAR Honda (B) 26.352 60.142 1:20.569 + 1.095 10. (14) da Matta Toyota (M) 26.515 60.320 1:20.765 + 1.291 11. (18) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 26.442 60.422 1:20.877 + 1.403 12. (2) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 26.462 60.572 1:21.065 + 1.591 13. (13) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 26.552 60.297 1:21.084 + 1.610 14. (16) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 26.561 60.667 1:21.211 + 1.737 15. (12) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 26.704 60.741 1:21.363 + 1.889 16. (10) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 26.700 60.914 1:21.500 + 2.026 17. (17) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 27.166 61.511 1:22.335 + 2.861 18. (19) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 27.190 62.182 1:23.418 + 3.944 19. (5) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 26.026 59.301 No Time 20. (20) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) - - No Time Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. M.Schumacher 26.013 M.Schumacher 33.234 Webber 20.058 2. Barrichello 26.026 Barrichello 33.275 M.Schumacher 20.227 3. Montoya 26.118 Montoya 33.285 Alonso 20.251 4. Panis 26.118 Coulthard 33.312 Trulli 20.313 5. R.Schumacher 26.146 R.Schumacher 33.326 R.Schumacher 20.316 6. Trulli 26.160 Alonso 33.480 Montoya 20.346 7. Alonso 26.176 Panis 33.481 Panis 20.360 8. Coulthard 26.285 Trulli 33.490 Coulthard 20.371 9. Button 26.352 Webber 33.610 Button 20.427 10. Pizzonia 26.442 Villeneuve 33.745 da Matta 20.445 11. Raikkonen 26.462 Button 33.790 Pizzonia 20.455 12. Webber 26.503 da Matta 33.805 Raikkonen 20.493 13. da Matta 26.515 Pizzonia 33.980 Heidfeld 20.544 14. Villeneuve 26.552 Frentzen 34.037 Fisichella 20.586 15. Heidfeld 26.561 Heidfeld 34.106 Frentzen 20.622 16. Fisichella 26.700 Raikkonen 34.110 Villeneuve 20.787 17. Frentzen 26.704 Fisichella 34.214 Firman 20.824 18. Firman 27.166 Firman 34.345 Verstappen 21.236 19. Verstappen 27.190 Verstappen 34.992 Top Speed: 274.3 (da Matta, Toyota) All timing unofficial
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