WilliamsF1 improves in opening Saturday practice


By Andrew Hooper
September 28 2002

United States GP Saturday 1st Practice
Saturday's practice sessions would see the circuit covered by thick clouds, but despite this conditions were acceptable.

Juan Pablo MontoyaThe BMW WilliamsF1 drivers would finish the session with Juan Pablo in fourth and Ralf in sixth. Even though both drivers had been able to improve over their Friday times they were still around a second slower than the fastest driver, Michael Schumacher.

Again, in a repeat of Friday, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher would head the times with a best lap of 1m:11.262, which was set on his first attempt. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was second. After having to sit out the whole of Friday's practice this looked very promising for the Brazilian

Coulthard in his MP417 was third with a 1m:12.182, ahead of Juan-Pablo. Kimi Raikkonen in the second McLaren was fifth, followed by Ralf, Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella, and an ever improving Eddie Irvine in his Jaguar R3.

Renault's Jarno Trulli, despite several off tack moments, was ninth, followed by Toyota's Mika Salo, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld, and Pedro de la Rosa.

Olivier Panis in the BAR-Honda was fifteenth, ahead of team-mate Villeneuve, Mark Webber, Allan McNish, and Alex Yoong. Jordan’s Takuma Sato did not complete a lap having suffered a major engine failure on his installation tour.
Driver Team (Tyres) Time Gap Laps

01. M Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:11.262 07
02. R Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:11.743 0.481 11
03. D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:12.182 0.920 11
04. JP Montoya BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:12.197 0.935 11
05. K Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:12.364 1.102 10
06. R Schumacher BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:12.382 1.120 11
07. G Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:12.587 1.325 12
08. E Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:12.640 1.378 11
09. J Trulli Renault (M) 1:12.756 1.494 14
10. M Salo Toyota (M) 1:12.914 1.652 09
11. Heinz H. Frentzen Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:12.965 1.703 09
12. J Button Renault (M) 1:13.021 1.759 14
13. N Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:13.253 1.991 12
14. P de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:13.315 2.053 13
15. O Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:13.327 2.065 15
16. J Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:13.502 2.240 08
17. M Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:13.547 2.285 18
18. A McNish Toyota (M) 1:13.612 2.350 15
19. A Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:14.437 3.175 19
20. T Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 01
 
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