Schumacher in big testing crash

The German brought out the red flags after going backwards into the barriers at the 140mph Turn 11.

The Ferrari ace, who was second fastest at the time, was unhurt in the impact but the rear of the car was destroyed. The rear wing and both wheels were torn from the chassis, and according to the team driver error was to blame.

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello heads the morning times, recording a best lap of 1m18.112s, which was almost half a second up on Schumacher. Once again the Bridgestone tyres performed well in the cooler morning conditions and this was illustrated by Nick Heidfeld and Olivier Panis popping up in third and fourth positions respectively.

Ralf Schumacher was the quickest of the Michelin runners in fifth. Using the 2001 Williams he out-paced team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya in the FW24 by almost a second. Marcel Lasee did an impressive job for Jordan and was eighth fastest in the Jordan EJ11.

Testing continues this afternoon.


Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 1m18.112s 19
Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 1m18.565s 17
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas* B 1m18.749s 33
Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 1m19.182s 40
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m19.406s 24
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW* M 1m20.345s 24
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas* B 1m20.379s 19
Marcel Lasee Jordan-Honda B 1m20.531s 38
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda* B 1m20.577s 28
Jenson Button Renault M 1m21.067s 31
Mika Salo Toyota* M 1m21.921s 23
Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda* B 1m22.048s 10
Allan McNish Toyota* M 1m22.477s 25
Jarno Trulli Renault* M 1m22.791s 12
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M no time

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone
* denotes 2002 car