WilliamsF1 French GP Saturday 1st Practice

By Andrew Hooper
July 20 2002


	French GP Saturday 1st Practice

	The opening Saturday practice for the French Grand Prix would see the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers sixth and seventh, with Juan Pablo faster than Ralf. For Juan Pablo, having taken pole in the last four races, he should figure when it comes to qualifying later on in the day. As for Ralf he had secured pole in 2001 so he should be there as well. But it would be Ferrari's Michael Schumacher who would jump to the top of the times. Michael, who was third quickest yesterday, set a best time of 1m:12.974. What should be of greater concern to the other teams was that he only had to complete seven laps to set his time. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was second, five tenths behind Schumacher. After their strong showing yesterday the McLaren drivers were to continue their form with Kimi Raikkonen third and David Coulthard fourth. Sauber’s Felipe Massa finished fifth with Juan-Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher sixth and seventh. Renault's Jenson Button was eighth, ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Olivier Panis, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar. Renault team-mate Jarno Trulli was thirteenth, just ahead of Takuma Sato, Jacques Villeneuve, and the Toyotas of Salo and McNish. Pedro de la Rosa was eighteenth, and the Minardi's of Alex Yoong and Mark Webber with the slowest, Webber suffering technical difficulties that saw him complete only four laps. As for Arrows well they again failed to take to the track but the team made it clear that they would compete today. Later today the Renault team will announce it's driver line-up for 2003. It is likely that Jenson Button will be replaced by Fernando Alonso, with Jarno Trulli remaining with the team. Rumours now have Jenson Button moving to BAR Honda.

	Driver Team (Tyres) Time Gap Laps 01. M Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:12.974 02. R Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:13.503 0.529 03. K Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.672 0.698 04. D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:14.213 1.239 05. F Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:14.311 1.337 06. JP Montoya BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:14.321 1.347 07. R Schumacher BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:14.445 1.471 08. J Button Renault (M) 1:14.581 1.607 09. N Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:14.624 1.650 10. O Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:14.725 1.751 11. G Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:14.949 1.975 12. E Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:15.117 2.143 13. J Trulli Renault (M) 1:15.179 2.205 14. T Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:15.208 2.234 15. J Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:15.464 2.490 16. M Salo Toyota (M) 1:15.516 2.542 17. A McNish Toyota (M) 1:15.650 2.676 18. P de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:15.936 2.962 19. A Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:18.408 5.434 20. M Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 2:03.363 50.389 21. Heinz H. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) no time 22. E Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) no time