Warm-up: Barrichello tops Ferrari one-two
Ferrari sent out a warning signal to its rivals in the final practice session before Sunday's European Grand Prix by setting the top two fastest times in the warm-up. However it was Rubens Barrichello who stole the thunder from world champ Michael Schumacher, as the Brazilian topped the timesheets with a lap of 1m18.209s, just ahead of his Ferrari team mate
The two Ferrari drivers traded fastest times throughout the 30-minute session, with no real competition coming from any of the other teams. But with just five minutes of the warm-up to go, Barrichello popped up with a lap three seconds slower than Schumacher's pole time, but with everyone concentrating on race set-up rather than grandstanding speed, Rubens' place at the top of times was assured.
Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW was the best of the rest, just behind his elder brother in third. His Michelin tyres seemed to hold up well in the morning's cool air - temperatures were just creeping up to 18 deg C as the chequered flag was waved at the end of the session.
Next up was another Michelin runner - the Jaguar of Eddie Irvine. The Ulsterman impressed throughout the warm-up, setting fastest sector times midway through the session and at one point was a high as second. However he had to settle for fourth, nicking ahead of the fastest McLaren, piloted by David Coulthard.
Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top six with a lap six tenths of a second slower than Barrichello's benchmark. The Colombian is looking to finish his first race since his second place in Spain four races ago. He starts today's race from third.
Jordan's Jarno Trulli was the pacesetter in the opening minutes of the session but fell back to seventh quickest at the end. However he was the fastest of the Honda powered cars, with his team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen a second back in 14th and the BAR pairing of Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve in 12th and 17th places respectively.
Mika Hakkinen's McLaren was eighth fastest in the warm-up, with the two Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top 10 slots in a session that was short on drama and excitement.
For full warm-up results click here.
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