Let's start the official thread and warn everybody, that results will be discussed in this one. First two practice sessions saw Rubinho at the top of the charts with MS 0.16 behind. Massa on 8th. I bet this is going to be the trend for the weekend: Michael could easily beat Rubens, but won't do it and respectfully cover him from the 2nd spot.
...well done to both drivers.....this season. it would mean a lot to RB to win the 'home race', I'm sure.........
Free Practise Session 1 Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired 1 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:12.547 2 38 Ryan Briscoe Toyota 1:12.614 3 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:12.873 4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.150 5 35 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1:13.232 6 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.277 7 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:13.512 8 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:13.839 9 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:13.855 10 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:13.990 11 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.042 12 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:14.118 13 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:14.147 14 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:14.187 15 17 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:14.207 16 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:14.479 17 7 Jacques Villeneuve Renault 1:14.585 18 39 Robert Doornbos Jordan-Ford 1:14.966 19 37 Bjorn Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.065 20 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:15.414 21 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.476 22 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:15.490 23 19 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:15.647 24 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:16.406 25 40 Bas Leinders Minardi-Cosworth Free Practise Session 2 Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired 1 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m11.166s 2 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m11.334s 3 RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m11.526s 4 BUTTON BAR 1m11.731s 5 DAVIDSON BAR 1m11.920s 6 SATO BAR 1m11.988s 7 ALONSO Renault 1m12.005s 8 MASSA Sauber 1m12.183s 9 BRISCOE Toyota 1m12.209s 10 R.SCHUMACHER Williams 1m12.235s 11 MONTOYA Williams 1m12.280s 12 VILLENEUVE Renault 1m12.316s 13 DOORNBOS Jordan 1m12.345s 14 ZONTA Toyota 1m12.347s 15 COULTHARD McLaren 1m12.430s 16 TRULLI Toyota 1m12.545s 17 FISICHELLA Sauber 1m12.631s 18 WEBBER Jaguar 1m12.816s 19 HEIDFELD Jordan 1m13.114s 20 BRUNI Minardi 1m13.467s 21 KLIEN Jaguar 1m13.509s 22 GLOCK Jordan 1m13.966s 23 BAUMGARTNER Minardi 1m13.979s 24 WIRDHEIM Jaguar 1m14.303s 25 LEINDERS Minardi 1m14.754s
Raikkonen was 1 sec quicker than DC - not something you want if you are hunting for a seat next year... In DC's defense he claims he was stuck behind slower traffic which prevented him to record a fast lap. He was pretty fast here last year ... let's see if he can repeat...
Stray dog on the track! Saturday Free Practise session 1 has been red flagged. They're attempting to catch it... rofl!
Michael Schumacher has crashed at turn 6 (Ferrardura, a blind uphill 3rd gear 190kmph right hander) with 3 minutes to go of the second Saturday Free Practise session!!! Fortunately he's safe and out of the car.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Please let the engine be salvageable. No 10 spot penalty. Atleast Schumi isn't hurt...
"Pre-qualifying begins at 17:00 CET, 16:00 BST as Ferrari assess the damage to Michael Schumachers F2004. The team will be hoping that the engine is not damaged so they can transfer the V10 to the spare chassis assuming the primary F2004 is damaged beyond repair. Failing that, Schumacher faces a ten-position penalty on the grid." - F1-Live.net The car is very badly damaged. That corner is a real bastard if you lose it as there isn't much runoff.
Saturday Free Practise Session 1 Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired 1 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:11.466 2 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:11.580 3 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.591 4 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:11.641 5 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:11.714 6 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:11.740 7 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:11.985 8 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:12.064 9 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.085 10 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:12.208 11 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:12.263 12 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:12.356 13 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:12.563 14 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:12.612 15 17 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:13.025 16 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:13.327 17 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:14.284 18 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:14.336 19 19 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:14.805 20 7 Jacques Villeneuve Renault Saturday Free Practise Session 2 Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired 1 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:10.229 2 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:10.352 3 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:10.385 4 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:10.413 5 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:10.480 6 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:10.683 7 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:10.997 8 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:11.127 9 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:11.130 10 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:11.142 11 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:11.157 12 7 Jacques Villeneuve Renault 1:11.321 13 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:11.425 14 17 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:11.688 15 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:11.711 16 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:12.248 17 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:12.299 18 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:12.990 19 19 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:13.818 20 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:14.411
Yup and it is very easy to loose it there, a little too fast or not hitting the apex precisely and you get on the flat curbs which take you right into the tires. But hey, why cry? This is another great opportunity for "reversed grid"! Although having seen Michael's poor performance in Shanghai, I'm not sure he'll slice through the field. The crash makes me wonder, whether Rubens really has the upper hand and Michael tried too hard to match him? Or did Michael simply not care anymore and throw his careful attitude out the window as the title is in the bag?
Pre-Qualifying Commentary: "The big news here at Interlagos is that Michael Schumacher is expected to lose ten places on the grid due to an engine change. It follows a heavy crash for the champion at Turn 6 at the end of second practise this morning. Schumacher, who appeared to lose control over the bumps entering the corner, was unhurt... ...but his F2004 was badly damaged, with an engine fire erupting after he went into the tyres. Here he therefore expected to start pre-qualifying in the spare car."
Schumacher on his flying lap now, in the spare car... He sets the fastest lap of the weekend and an Interlagos lap record - a 1m 10.192s! Guess he wasn't fazed by that nasty crash!
I don't believe this! Montoya just broke Michael's lap record by over three tenths! He's the first person to break the 1m 10s barrier with a time of 1m 9.862s.
Massa also breaks the 1m 10s barrier, with 1m 9.930s, just 0.068s behind Montoya. The home fans go wild!
Rubens better find that "pass Michael" button on the wheel when he does his qualifying lap!! The most important thing after any crash is that the driver is alive and well. Cars can be replaced. Bones and flesh take longer. Let's have Ruben take pole and finish #1, Michael #2 and who knows #3 witrh the lap times that are being posted now!! Going to be one hell of a last race!!
1. Rubens 2. JPM 3. Kimi 4. Massa 18. and probably starting from the pits MS Sounds like we're in for a treat of a race! Yahoo!!!!
Very well done Rubens and Massa !!!! Let's see tomorrow, but I can't see any driver abble to steal Rubens' win tomorrow, specially with Schumi at 18...
Anyone notice the size of the radiator on Michael's busted sidepod? Gosh that thing is HUGE! I know they try to use all the space but how can they evacuate all that air? Is it vented through the engine bay? The stacks would not carry enough away (IMHO). Man, I would love to talk to the designers for a day...or 20! RB always does well on this track (not in the race, however!), so I am not surprised that MS was pushing to match. I do not think he is just cruising out of respect for Rubins. That is just not in MS's makeup! What about this Robert Doornbos for Jordan? Just a few test drives in the wet and here he is seconds ahead of the Jordan "race" drivers! Was he running on empty? Or is he the real deal? Watch this space! AND, once again, my man Webber is pedaling that POS Jag as fast as he can will it to go! Pizza-man will shrivel like a baked pepperoni next year (again!)! Jim BTW Mr. Payne, you gave me a bit of flack wondering why I suggested Sauber would outperform many of the other "established" teams next year. I mentioned the wind tunnel and their climb up the order this year. We will see what strategy Massa is on.....