Wurz Fastest in Practice 1 - Europe
McLaren continued their run of form into this weekend's European Grand Prix when test driver Alex Wurz outpaced World Champion Michael Schumacher today, in the opening session of the weekend
Wurz waited patiently as Schumacher and teammate Rubens Barrichello traded fastest laps and then set a time of 1:31.670 late in the session to go top by 0.908 seconds.
Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta finished third 1.127 seconds back with Juan Pablo Montoya setting the fourth fastest time with a lap in the closing seconds of the session.
That left Rubens Barrichello in fifth in the second Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen, the winner of the last two races, sixth in the second McLaren as the Renault and BAR drivers chose not to run a full lap.
German Nick Heidfeld finished seventh fastest for Williams, just ahead of Australian teammate Mark Webber, with Christian Klien ninth for Red Bull and Ralf Schumacher completing the top ten in his Toyota.
The session began under clear blue skies with temperatures of 27 degrees and as usual most of the drivers chose to spend the opening 30 minutes of the session in the shade of the garages.
Christian Klien was the first driver to make a mistake, running off at turn 10 15 minutes into the session then Franck Montagny, who is driving the third Jordan this weekend, hit a bollard in the chicane and damaged his car.
Barrichello led with half the session gone but his teammate Michael Schumacher went fastest with 25 minutes as the Ferrari pair led the running while most of their rivals stayed in their garages.
Klien went off track again in his Red Bull Racing machine, going over the at tarmac run-off at the same place in turn 10, then Montagny made another mistake and went off track at turn one.
Schumacher then cut the chicane slightly and came straight into the pits and with ten minutes left to run only 14 drivers had set a competitive lap time with the remaining 10 still to come out.
Jordan driver Narain Karthikeyan and Sauber's Felipe Massa also went over the kerbs at the chicane and Zonta split the two Ferraris to claim second before Wurz went top with six minutes to go and went even faster at the finish.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:32.670 18 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:33.578 + 0.908 10 3. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:33.726 + 1.056 21 4. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:33.873 + 1.203 7 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:33.984 + 1.314 11 6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:33.988 + 1.318 6 7. Heidfeld Williams-BMW (M) 1:34.142 + 1.472 5 8. Webber Williams-BMW (M) 1:34.248 + 1.578 5 9. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:34.304 + 1.634 19 10. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:35.018 + 2.348 11 11. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:35.212 + 2.542 9 12. Massa Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:36.142 + 3.472 8 13. Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:36.413 + 3.743 7 14. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:36.716 + 4.046 9 15. Liuzzi Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:37.129 + 4.459 12 16. Monteiro Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:38.021 + 5.351 19 17. Albers Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:38.406 + 5.736 15 18. Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:38.474 + 5.804 16 19. Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:38.538 + 5.868 15 20. Montagny Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:38.725 + 6.055 23 21. Sato BAR-Honda (M) No Time 2 22. Button BAR-Honda (M) No Time 2 23. Fisichella Renault (M) No Time 2 24. Alonso Renault (M) No Time 2 All timing unofficial
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