Wet weather plays havoc in Brazilian Qualifying

Friday qualifying would start with the rain continuing to fall at the Interlagos circuit. As was reported several drivers had attempted to have the qualifying session cancelled, stating that the conditions would make a fast lap too dangerous in the wet conditions.

But their calls were not listened to and the drivers were to take to the track. First off was McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen who would set a time of 1m:24.607. Team-mate David Coulthard would be next, running little wide through sector two, finishing five hundredths behind his team-mate.

For BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya his run would come to an end when he was to lose control of his car under braking in turn six, finishing with a 1m:27.961 three seconds off Raikkonen’s top time. Under drying conditions next came Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello who would take provisional pole in an impressive lap of 1m:23.249.

Next was Renault's Fernando Alonso on what was still a very difficult circuit, with Alonso appearing to take things easy and he would go fourth fastest almost three seconds behind Barrichello.

But as the rain started to worsen we would have the sight of of Michael Schumacher spinning on his warm-up lap but he would continue and would go fourth fastest with a lap of 1m:25.585, two seconds behind Barrichello.

With the rain getting worse Ralf would take things easy and set a time that, at that time, was good enough for seventh. His time would be beaten by Frentzen and Ralf would drop to eighth. For Juan Pablo he would drop down the order to be in ninth. For BAR's Jenson Button he would be the tenth driver out but his qualifying would see him run off track and damage the rear wing of his car ending his qualifying attempt. He would return to the pits but with debris over the circuit from his rear wing the session was halted.

Next came Sauber's Nick Heidfeld who would go ninth. For BAR team-mate Jacques Villeneuve he would set the fifth fastest time. Pushing both Ralf and Juan Pablo further down the order was Toyota's Da Matta who would move into eighth. Ralf was tenth and Juan Pablo thirteenth.

With the Jordan team celebrating their 200th Grand Prix Fisichella would be in eleventh while team-mate Ralph Firman set an impressive time for someone with limited time on the track. He was sixteenth. In the closing moments of qualifying and with the track  it would be Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia who would set an excellent time with a lap of 1m:25.764 to go sixth. This was after his earlier crash in practice.

But the biggest surprise in the session was Jaguar's Mark Webber, the second last driver to run, who would set the fast time to take provisional pole from Barrichello. Webber would also benefit from the drying track to set the fastest time. He would also be joined near the top in sixth by Toyota's Olivier Panis.

1. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'23"111 186.647 Km/h 3
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'23"249 + 0'00"138 3
3. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'24"607 + 0'01"496 3
4. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'24"655 + 0'01"544 3
5. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'25"585 + 0'02"474 3
6. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'25"614 + 0'02"503 3
7. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'25"672 + 0'02"561 3
8. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'25"764 + 0'02"653 3
9. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'26"203 + 0'03"092 3
10. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'26"375 + 0'03"264 3
11. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'26"554 + 0'03"443 3
12. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'26"557 + 0'03"446 3
13. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'26"709 + 0'03"598 3
14. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'26"726 + 0'03"615 3
15. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'26"886 + 0'03"775 3
16. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'27"111 + 0'04"000 3
17. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'27"961 + 0'04"850 3
18. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'28"083 + 0'04"972 3
19. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 1'28"317 + 0'05"206 3
20. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 2 lap(s) 2