WilliamsF1 improves after Saturday practice
By Andrew Hooper
March 20 2004
| Malaysian GP Saturday 4th Practice | |
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The final practice session in Malaysia would see both BMW WilliamsF1
drivers close the gap to their Ferrari rival Michael Schumacher. Juan
Pablo and Ralf would finish in second and third.
Juan Pablo at least could
look at the times and see that the gap to Michael was just 0.037
seconds. Ralf was just 0.410 seconds behind in third. The only moment
for the WilliamsF1 team was when Juan Pablo was seen coasting back to
the pits possibly with a problem. As for the teams prospects for the rest of the weekend, well at least Juan Pablo was more satisfied with the balance of his car and if the wide variation in times between the two Ferrari's does indicate that Michael is on a softer tyre then he may be able to perform well in qualifying but in the race the prospects for the WilliamsF1 team should be far better than they were in Melbourne. |
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Driver Team Time Laps 1. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:33.526 213.361km/h 11 2. Montoya WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:33.563 + 0.037 8 3. R. Schumacher WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:33.973 + 0.447 8 4. Trulli Renault (M) 1:34.041 + 0.515 12 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:34.061 + 0.535 9 6. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:34.128 + 0.602 13 7. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.163 + 0.637 10 8. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.181 + 0.655 10 9. Alonso Renault (M) 1:34.194 + 0.668 10 10. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:34.381 + 0.855 12 11. Panis Toyota (M) 1:34.929 + 1.403 16 12. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:34.943 + 1.417 5 13. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:34.953 + 1.427 15 14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:35.036 + 1.510 10 15. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:35.144 + 1.618 13 16. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:35.441 + 1.915 15 17. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:36.607 + 3.081 11 18. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:38.059 + 4.533 12 19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:38.554 + 5.028 13 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:39.893 + 6.367 13 |
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| Click image for HP F1 Site |

At
one stage it looked like the WilliamsF1 drivers would come away with the
fastest times in practice but they were only beaten in the closing
minutes by Michael. The worrying thing was the performance of the
Bridgestone tyres in conditions of high temperatures, something that
Michelin has historically performed better in.
