Ralf second in US GP Friday Practice

Both drivers would make adjustments to their cars during the session but rain late in the session would hinder their dry weather running. Despite the rain both WilliamsF1 drivers would take the opportunity to practice with wet weather tyres fitted. BMW's Dr Mario Theissen commented during the session: "We are well-prepared. I'm happy with our performance."

With the start of the Friday practice it would be the two Toyota drivers who would go out, Cristiano da Matta first, followed by BMW WilliamsF1's Ralf Schumacher. Ralf would be quickly joined by Juan Pablo. Ralf would set the early fastest time with a lap of 1m:11.716. There was a few rain clouds at the start of the session.

David Coulthard's first attempt would see him set a time of 1m:11.967, moving him into second. Michael Schumacher on his first lap would set a time of 1m:12.466. Kimi Raikkonen would match Michael's time and move into fourth. But Kimi would improve with a 1m:12.338 and take third from Michael.

Rubens Barrichello's first attempt would see him down the times with a lap of 1m:14.665. Jaguar's Justin Wilson would set a time of 1m:12.765 which was faster than the first attempt of Juan Pablo.

But Rubens would jump to the top of the times with a lap of 1m:11.741, a few hundredths slower than Ralf. Jaguar's Mark Webber would move into second with a lap time of 1m:11.794. Rubens would push Mark down the order with a time of 1m:11:741 to be second.

Fernando Alonso would put in a time of 1m:11:712, forcing Ralf into second position. But Ralf would regain the top spot with a 1m:11:701. Juan Pablo would completes his sixth lap setting a best time of 1m:11.842 to be fifth.

With around twenty minutes of the session run it would be Michael who would move into first with a time of 1m:11:656. The McLaren drivers are sixth and eighth, David in front of Kimi. So with just about thirty minutes of the session run it would be Michael leading Ralf, followed by Alonso, Barrichello, Webber, and Juan Pablo. The gap from first to sixth was only 0.186sec., incredibly close.

Apart from the two Ferrari's the times have been dominated by the Michelin supplied teams. The next best Bridgestone runner was Fisichella in eleventh. Justin Wilson was tenth, with BAR's Jacques Villeneuve in last place, a lap time of 1M:14.563, behind the two Sauber's. Team-mate Jenson Button's best time is only a 1m:13.487, to be fourteenth.

With twenty minutes left in the session things were very quite as the teams evaluated their data. There would be a red flag when Fisichella's Jordan would suffer an engine failure, with the track having to be cleaned up. With fifteen minutes left cars would start returning to the track.

For Renault's Jarno Trulli his first time out would see him set the fastest second sector of the day with a 28.9, seeing him end the lap with a time of 1m:11:153 to move into first. Toyota's Oliver Panis would move into second place time of 1m:11:388. Ralf would improve to move into second place. Both BAR drivers would improve slightly, with Button twelfth and Villeneuve fourteenth. Michael would drop back to fifth position, behind team-mate Rubens. Championship rival Juan Pablo was down in eighth.

Both the Sauber's of Heinz Harald Frentzen and Nick Heidfeld are having a difficult time been only 18th and 19th respectively, behind the Minardi of Nicholas Kiesa. With ten minutes left to run it was now a time to check their qualifying setups. But as they do the clouds would open seeing some rain affect the circuit.

With a wet track it would be Jarno Trulli who would take the opportunity to try out a wet weather setup. It is expected that the showers will end prior to the days qualifying session, allowing the track to dry out. For Jordan things would get even worse when Ralph Firman would pull off the track and stop. As the session came to a close most drivers were out on the track, with Minardi's Jos Verstappen improving his time to a 1m:18:255.