Rubens leads Ferrari 1 - 2 in Free Practice Session 1 1 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:19.138 2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:19.214 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:19.502 4 Marc Gene Williams-BMW 1:19.687 5 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1:19.748 6 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.021 7 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:20.430 8 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:20.446 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.633 10 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:20.866 11 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:21.095 12 Bjorn Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.277 13 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:21.285 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.520 15 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:21.792 16 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:22.003 17 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:22.279 18 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:22.466 19 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:22.520 20 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:22.664 21 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:22.716 22 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:23.149 23 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:23.663 24 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:23.715 25 Bas Leinders Minardi-Cosworth 1:24.887 The conditions were dry and temperatures were moderate.
1 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.655 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:18.660 3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:19.162 4 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.287 5 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:19.401 6 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:19.473 7 Marc Gene Williams-BMW 1:19.540 8 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:19.601 9 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:19.611 10 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:19.676 11 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:19.746 12 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:19.874 13 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:20.095 14 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:20.489 15 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:20.829 16 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1:20.861 17 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.073 18 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.352 19 Bjorn Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.353 20 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:22.365 21 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:22.500 22 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:22.516 23 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:22.586 24 Bas Leinders Minardi-Cosworth 1:22.792 25 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:23.436 Is Kimi showing signs of a comeback! Is Fisichella runing on a low fuel level! Has Michael decided to give others some hope by slowing down!
Fisichella had to have an engine swap so he will lose 10 spots after qualifying tomorrow. Sauber made some changes to the car and it looks like they are working. It still comes down to qualifying though. It will be interesting to see if McLaren will be as strong tomorrow.
Here are a few photos I took today. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
well it looks like all of the teams are playing games with the first qualifying run as they are all slowing down because of expected rain at the end of the second qualifying session Damm i was hoping for an exciting race with a revered grid.. oh well break out the "Wacko on the Tracko" again
Well, interesting pre-qualifying session! First Michael Schumacher spins. Then Rubens goes off into the grass. Then all the cars start slowing down in anticipation of rain! 2 other cars entered the pits early due to off-road excursions. Qualifying for the grid starts in 10 minutes...
In replay you could see that both Michael and Rubens did their mistakes on purpose to slow down and create some excitment. They did it on purpose and tried to be discreet so that other teams do not catch on to what is going on.
Position Driver# Driver Team Time/Retired 1 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.233 2 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:18.305 3 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:18.580 4 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:18.710 5 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:18.715 6 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:18.811 ***** 7 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.148 8 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:19.378 9 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:19.688 10 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:20.004 11 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:20.202 12 17 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:20.335 13 4 Marc Gene Williams-BMW 1:20.335 14 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:20.545 15 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.559 16 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:22.458 17 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:22.677 18 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:23.437 19 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:24.117 20 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas ***** Alonso will lose ten grid positions because the team had to replace his engine due to engine failure.
Going by the qualifying results, McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari, BAR-Honda and Renault are all in contention for the win tomorrow. Should be a good race!
This is why I am not a fan of the 'new' qualifying format. I can't blame the teams for trying to anticipate the weather conditions. But, I believe it takes away from the spectacle....
And you are ignorant! Both Michael and Rubens have hinted after qualifying that the mistakes were on purpose. Learn to think and be informed before you open your mouth.
That might be true, or maybe not. I think that sound like an excuse made after seeing what was going on in the qualifing with the rest of the competitors. They had the opportunity to excuse their errors, and they used it. If made on purpouse, they did risk to damage the car. That does not seem like a smart move to me, and I doubt Ferrari would had accepted it IMHO. - Julio.
This is directly from the post qualifying press conference. " Rubens, it was an interesting pre-qualifying - what happened there? Rubens B.: Well, we heard that it could well rain in the middle of the session so, I mean, what is the point of not going out and show everyone that we were intending to go a little bit earlier into the session? So we had to go out, we had a plan to slow down but at least I think we have done, in a way, you know, because there was a strategy behind it. I mean, with people starting to brake in the middle of the line and you were getting beat by the others. If that was the strategy you were showing it to people. At least we did it in a good way. " So this shows that they were trying to do it in a discreet way so that other teams would not catch on! It was very much a Scuderia Ferrari TEAM Deciosion and was accepted and ordered by Jean and Ross.
I know he said that I saw it. But there is other ways to do it without risking the car. If what they did is what they wanted to do, sure Barrichelo did it with less risks than MS. However still looks to me like an excuse, and it is a little odd that they are playing those games. What did they think, that the others did not know how the weather was going to be? But it is possibly true, and if it is, then they are just a bit inocent to think that the other teams are complete fools!!! BTW, next thing I am going to hear, is that Alonso broke down his engine intentionaly at the practice, so he can show off how good the Renault start is! - Julio
Ross Brawn "Our weather forecast predicted rain for the second half of the qualifying session, therefore we did not want to risk being among the last out on track. We tried to do it in such a way that the other teams would not understand our intentions, but they did the same thing anyway." More evidence to show that the tactics were approved by Scuderia Ferrari. They tried to do the mistakes in a dicreet way. But other teams caught on to what was going on. At leat Michael gave some entertainment by spinning the car!
Give the guy a break, wait at least to the race! Even Ralf has done it that bad this season, and it was his car! But sure he did a bad qualifing!!! - Julio.
Well, the other teams were not such fools as the Ferrari team thought, then! At least the others did it in a clear way, with no tricks! I hate when Ferrari makes things like this! - Julio.
