Austrian GP Friday Qualifying

Ralf lost control of his Williams-BMW between the Grosser Kurve and the Niki Lauda corner, and gently spun into the gravel trap having failed to set a time. This would cause the session to be temporarily red-flagged. It still appears to be that Ralf finds the going tough under the one lap qualifying format.

Qualifying would see Kimi Raikkonen take to the track first and he would set a time of 1m:08.978, which was nine tenths off last year's pole time. The next runner was Ferrari's Michael Schumacher with a stunning lap time of 1m:07.908, which was faster than the 2002 pole time. Third in the championship is Renault's Fernando Alonso so he was next out but he would not be able to match Schumacher's pace and settles for third, 1.77 seconds behind.

Next came Rubens Barrichello but he could not beat his team-mates time but would move into second, three tenths down. For McLaren's David Coulthard even he could not compete with Schumacher's time but he would lead Raikkonen.

For the BMW WilliamsF1 team Ralf would be the first driver out but after an encouraging first sector time he would spin his FW25 ensuring that he would be last on the Friday grid. For Juan Pablo he would have to wait in the pits while marshals remove Ralf's car. As a result of his slow time Ralf will now be first out tomorrow in the second qualifying.

For Juan Pablo his lap would see him four tenths down in sector one, another four tenths through sector two, but he would go third ahead of the two McLaren's. Next came Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella finishing in sixth. After his team-mates encouraging time Jarno Trulli would not come near the fastest time but at least he finished ahead of Alonso, seventh on the grid. The final driver in the first series of drivers was Sauber's Heinz Harald Frentzen who would go ninth fastest but he was over two seconds off the fastest time.

For BAR's Jacques Villeneuve he would put in a quick time which would see him jump to third. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta would finish eleventh but his Toyota certainly does not look happy at this circuit. For BAR Jenson Button would go fourth fastest, an very good start for the BAR team.

For Jaguar's Mark Webber he would continue to show excellent form with a time that was good enough for third ahead of his more fancied rivals. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld moves into eleventh. Next came Jordan's Ralph Firman abut he would ruin his lap when he lost control of his car in sector three and his car would crash into the barrier. The session would be stopped as the track is cleared.

After a break Toyota's Olivier would complete his lap, finishing fourteenth some 1.85 seconds off the fastest time. For the Minardi drivers sixteenth would be Jos Verstappen grid position while team-mate Wilson would go seventeenth. The final driver to take to the track would be Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia who would move into ninth.