Schumacher leads the way into qualifying

The final session was pretty much un-eventful for Ferrari as Schumacher and Barrichello continued to fine tune their set-ups. Schumacher was lapping around the same pace as his fastest lap so far set in the earlier session while Barrichello remained in second place. Schumacher appears to have the edge over Barrichello so far in France.

The session was dominated by a red flag period after the Jordan of Fisichella slammed hard into the tyres after his front wing came lose while riding the kerbs. Thankfully the Italian driver was not injured. Michael Schumacher had a close look at this as he came round to pit and he as we all would have been please to see Fisichella up and about as his Jordan lay wrecked at the trackside. Giancarlo appears to be fine but was taken by helicopter to the local hospital for a few scans just to make sure and he will hopefully be back at the circuit in time for qualifying.

The session resumes after quite a lengthy delay to repair the tyre barrier and once the green light is shown both Ferrari’s are soon out on track. But it was to be a bit dramatic for the Ferrari duo as Michael loses the back end at the hairpin and spins the F2002, no damage done and he keeps the car running as he struggles to find reverse to get back in the right direction. Rubens Barrichello is also testing his limits as he cuts across the chicane and carry’s on.

Ferrari have done a lot of good work in these sessions and the constant pace of Michael and Rubens shows they are on the right track for qualifying. As the session comes to an end both McLaren’s suddenly pop up into second and third but their earlier pace would suggest a bit of game playing by the McLaren team. So the practice is over and now the real business begins for the teams and Williams seem to be the team with most work to do as they struggle with set-up even a this late stage.

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