Difficult going for WilliamsF1 in Friday practice

After a difficult opening day of practice for the BMW WilliamsF1 team it would see Ralf finish in tenth position, while Juan Pablo would end up in sixteenth place. For Juan Pablo he would not get close to his practice time of 2001. In 2001 his best time was at 1m:13.983, this year it was a 1m:15.632.

Both drivers would have their problems on the day with Ralf damaging his car in the morning session and Juan Pablo having engine problems in the second session.

As for the second Friday practice Juan Pablo would be the first BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver to take to the track, shortly there after followed by Ralf. Juan Pablo would have a spin on his out lap. The grass around the track was still very wet, which helped to explain why so many of the cars were having problems trying to stop if they spun off.

Overall Juan Pablo would not be very happy with the balance of the car and he would spend a lot of time in his garage while his mechanics worked on the problem trying to make the changes to the balance.

Both Ralf and Juan Pablo would spend time in the pits with Ralf the first to return to the track. Ralf would spend the session putting in lap after lap in a long run. He would complete thirty five laps during the session. As for Juan Pablo he would see himself drop down the times ending up in sixteenth. Both drivers would managed to complete sixty three laps during practice.

Juan Pablo would return to the track after his mechanics investigated his problems but while he was on his out lap the problem with the engine would reoccur and Juan Pablo would be forced to park the car out on the track. Ralf would try to take to the track to set a faster time but the session was over.

As for the other tams the second Friday practice would see Michael Schumacher set a best time of 1:13.548, a full two seconds faster than the first practice session. As for team-mate Barrichello he would miss this session after his major crash earlier on in the day. He was not able to use his spare car during the session. In second was the impressive Eddie Irvine, his Jaguar setting a time only six tenths behind the Ferrari. For McLaren David Coulthard recorded the third fastest time just five-hundredths of a second faster than Kimi Raikkonen. BAR's Jacques Villeneuve took the honour of being the fastest Honda powered driver today with the fifth fastest time some thirteen places ahead of team-mate Olivier Panis.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in his return driver for Sauber, headed team-mate Nick Heidfeld by a tenth of a second, setting sixth fastest time. Giancarlo Fisichella was seventh fastest in his Jordan Honda ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Renault.

For Toyota twelfth for Mika Salo with team-mate McNish two places further back in fourteenth. Separating the Toyota drivers was Renault's Jenson Button, despite a couple of spins, would set the thirteenth fastest time. Minardi's Mark Webber was very impressive been fifteenth fastest time ahead of Juan Pablo.

Several drivers would have off track moments including Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Eddie Irvine, Olivier Panis, Mark Webber, Alex Yoong and Michael Schumacher. For Jordan's Takuma Sato would crash into the tyre barriers with only five minutes of the session run. Sato would finish in seventeenth ahead of the Olivier Panis. Minardi's Alex Yoong brought up the end of the field with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello yet to set a time.