Difficult US GP Qualifying for WilliamsF1

Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix brought little satisfaction for either BMW WilliamsF1 driver as both complained that they were not able to find the right setup for their cars.

Juan Pablo would be quick to take to the track, and on his first run he would set a time of 1m:11.414, which gave him provisional pole. Ralf's first run would see him move into second, with a time of 1m:11.675. But Ralf's next run would be ruined by yellow flags been shown as a result of Alex Yoong spinning. In his final run Ralf would finally improve on his earlier time with a lap of 1m:11.587, putting himself in fifth position in front of Kimi Raikkonen.

For Juan Pablo his fortunes were, in comparison, worse than Ralf's. On his second run he would make a mistake that would ruin his lap. On his third run Juan Pablo would miss his braking point for the first corner, finding himself travelling across the grass.

So with one run left he would complete the lap but would not improve his time. This should have been third but in the final moments he was beaten by McLaren's David Coulthard, dropping him down to fourth.

If Juan Pablo and Ralf can bring their starting position home, then they would have secured second place for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team in the constructors' championship.

As for pole it was easily secure by Michael Schumacher, who took his sixth pole position of 2002, with a time of 1m:10.790. Rubens Barrichello made it an Ferrari front row by setting a 1m:11.058.

Third was McLaren’s David Coulthard ahead of the WilliamsF1 pair. In sixth was McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, followed by BAR's Jacques Villeneuve. He was followed by Renault’s Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

Olivier Panis set a 1:12.161 which put him in twelfth, but in thirteenth was Jaguar's Eddie Irvine. After his final showing during practice it was frustrating for his team to see him again so far down the grid.

Renault's Jenson Button was fourteenth, followed by Takuma Sato, Allan McNish who beat his team-mate Mika Salo, and Pedro de la Rosa, continuing Jaguar’s poor afternoon.