Disappointing first qualifying for WilliamsF1

With a track temperature of 53 degrees the opening qualifying run would see Ferrari's Michael Schumacher go first as he was first in the last race in Melbourne. His time will be the benchmark for the other drivers. He would set a time of 1m:33.865, which was 0.3 seconds behind his practice time.

Next was Barrichello. His time of 1m:34.132 would see him in second just 0.267 behind his team-mate. After losing time in second sector Rubens would claim some of this back in the final sector. Third was Renault's Fernando Alonso and he would set the fastest second sector time and he would jump to the top of the times with a 1m:33.193, half a second quicker than Michael.

BMW WilliamsF1's Ralf Schumacher was next out and he could only manage fourth, some 1.5 seconds behind the Renault. This was 0.8 seconds slower than his best time in practice. Team-mate Montoya was next and he would be 0.3 own after the first sector, and would lose time over the rest of the lap. He would finish with a 1m:34.941 to be behind his team-mate.

For the WilliamsF1 drivers their practice pace indicated that they were able to set competitive times but they were way of the pace in the opening run. But having said that both cars appeared to be running heavy with their cars running very low.

The next runner was BAR's Jenson Button. He was down after the first sector, making a small mistake at Turn two, and would continue to lose time and would finish in fourth with a time of 1m:34.528. He was able to lead both WilliamsF1 drivers. But he was still over one second behind Alonso.

Supporting his Renault team-mate Jarno Trulli would move into second, just 0.071 behind. The Renault team were certainly strong in this session. Will we see a repeat of their 2003 performances when we had an all Renault front row. Coulthard would move into fifth with a time of 1m:34.321, pushing the WilliamsF1 drivers further down the times. BAR's Takuma Sato would set the slowest time so far with a 1m:34.971 to be behind Montoya.
Sauber's Fisichella would split the WilliamsF1 drivers moving into eighth. The Sauber struggled with understeer for most of the lap. Next was Jaguar's Christian Klein.

His lap would see him slowest with a time of 1m:35.618. This was massive 2.425 seconds behind the quickest time. He would be joined by Toyota's Da Matta who would go slowest with a time of 1m:35.684. At least he did not spin the car, something he has done several times in practice. Team-mate Panis would fare little better setting a slow time of 1m:35.247 to be
eleventh.

Jordan's Pantano was making his first appearance at the circuit would not make it out for his lap, with his mechanics still working on his car at a time when he should have been out on the circuit. Sauber's Felipe Massa was next. His time of 1m:35.132 would see him in eleventh, pushing Panis down one place. Like his team-mate he would suffer from understeer with his car. The Jordan mechanics were still working hard in what appeared to be a change of engine from Pantano's regular car to the spare. Jordan's Nick Heidfeld was at least able to get out of his pit. A massive 1.6 seconds down after the first two sectors. He could only manage a time of 1m:36.769, 3.5 seconds slower than Alonso.

The final four drivers would see Minardi's Gianmaria Bruni first out. He would only set a time of 1m:38.729 to be 5.5 seconds off the pace. Jaguar's Mark Webber had shown some good form in practice and he would continue that jumping into fourth with a time of 1m:34.016, 0.823 behind Alonso. This would put Ralf and Juan Pablo down in eighth and tenth, with Raikkonen yet to run.

Minardi's Baumgartner would finish last with a time even slower than his team-mate Bruni, a 1m:39.805 some 6.6 seconds slower than Alonso. The final driver was Raikkonen and he was fastest through sector one. He would lose a fraction in sector two and as he crossed the line he would set a time of 1m:33.452 to finish third.