WilliamsF1 struggles in practice in Bahrain

By Andrew Hooper
April 7 2004

	Bahrain GP Friday 1st Practice
	The opening Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix was one that would see the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers struggle to match the pace of the lead Ferrari's. At the end of the session Juan Pablo was in fourth while Ralf was down in eleventh. Juan Pablo was nearly 0.9 seconds behind the quickest time but Ralf's time was a massive 2.46 seconds behind his brother Michael's time. Both WilliamsF1 drivers would have off track moments as they tried to come to grips with the new, and dusty, Bahrain International Circuit. Ralf would spin his car on the dusty track Turn 13. He was able to stay on track and return to the pits. Juan Pablo would make a mistake at Turn 10, going off the circuit. The circuit was very hot with the air temperature around 30 degrees Centigrade and the track at 50 degrees. At the top of the times it would be Ferrari's Michael Schumacher followed by team-mate Rubens Barrichello. Michael would set a time of 1m:32.158 to be 0.493 seconds ahead of the second-placed Barrichello. Third would see BAR test driver Anthony Davidson, was 0.800 seconds behind Schumacher's time. Jenson Button would also set a quick time to be fifth with McLaren's David Coulthard sixth, Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta seventh, and Sauber's Felipe Massa eighth. The top ten was made up by Kimi Raikkonen and Takuma Sato. The session would see the drivers limit their runs. It would be around ten minutes before the first lap time was set by Ricardo Zonta with a 1m:37.533. But the final twenty five minutes would see Michael Schumacher stamp his authority on the sessions.
	Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:32.158 13 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:32.651 + 0.493 13 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:32.958 + 0.800 18 4. Montoya WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:33.027 + 0.869 14 5. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:33.898 + 1.740 13 6. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.023 + 1.865 10 7. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:34.289 + 2.131 20 8. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:34.488 + 2.330 12 9. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.603 + 2.445 10 10. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:34.610 + 2.452 11 11. R. Schumacher WilliamsF1-BMW (M) 1:34.619 + 2.461 13 12. Trulli Renault (M) 1:34.796 + 2.638 6 13. Alonso Renault (M) 1:34.810 + 2.652 10 14. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:34.872 + 2.714 11 15. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:34.967 + 2.809 17 16. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:35.388 + 3.230 8 17. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:35.760 + 3.602 16 18. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:35.905 + 3.747 11 19. Panis Toyota (M) 1:35.981 + 3.823 14 20. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:36.359 + 4.201 16 21. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:36.645 + 4.487 12 22. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:37.049 + 4.891 12 23. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:37.347 + 5.189 12 24. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:37.443 + 5.285 12 25. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:37.792 + 5.634 18

Click image for HP F1 Site