WilliamsF1 3rd & 4th after opening practice

On what was a cold and overcast day the opening Friday practice session for the British Grand Prix got under way with half the cars getting straight out onto the track to do their installation laps. With a chance of rain Michael
Schumacher would quickly look to set a lap time. He would seta time of 1m:21.411.

With just a handful of cars out early WilliamF1s' Marc Gene would also set a
time but was far from Schumacher's pace. Schumacher would improve his time
with a 1m:20.591. Gene's time was a 1m:22.195.

The second FW26 of Juan Pablo Montoya would also be out on the track. Marc's time would improve with a 1m:21.556, while Juan Pablo was to do a 1m:22.179. Michael would return to his pit while Jordan's Nick Heidfeld would set a time of 1m:24.383. Juan Pablo would move into second with a time of 1m:21.505. Both WilliamsF1 drivers would return to their pits with fifteen minutes of the session run.

Jordan's Giorgio Pantano and Timo Glock would also take to the track, joined
by Minardi's Zsolt Baumgartner and Toyota's Ricardo Zonta. Zonta would move
into fourth with a time of 1m:22.714. Minardi's Leinders would set the
slowest time with a 1m:31.534, after slowly making his way around the track.

Sauber's Felipe Massa would jump into second with a 1m:20.820. A 1m:20.430
would see Massa move to the top of the times. BAR test driver Anthony Davidson would be fifth, while Massa would pit. Button, Sato, and Barrichello would all be out looking to set a time. Rubens would quickly set the fastest time
so far with a 1m:20.098. Button was fourth, 1m:21.049, while team-mate Sato
was ninth, 1m:22.727.

But Rubens would show that he meant business by setting a time of 1m:19.622.
Button would maintain his fourth but improve his time with a 1m:20.866,
while Sato went into fifth with a 1m:21.285. Michael would also improve his
time to a 1m:20.474, eight tenths off Ruben's time.

With just under half the session remaining Glock would move into thirteen
but Toyota's Cristiano Da Matta would push him down the order when the
Brazilian went eleventh fastest with a 1m:22.827. He would improve his time
with a 1m:22.647. Toyota team-mate Olivier Panis would move into the top ten
with a 1m:22.520. Bridgestone runner Giancarlo Fisichella would move into s
into fourth with a 1m:20.509.

With a 1:20.446 for Fisichella he would move into second. Davidson was now in
third with a 1m:19.748. With a very quick time of 1m:19.214, Michael
Schumacher would be fastest. Gene was fourth with a 1m:20.369. With a
1m:19.138 Rubens would challenge his team-mate at the top of the times.


For Alonso he would be seen stopping in the second sector. Juan Pablo was now in fifth with a 1m:20.416. David Coulthard puts his McLaren MP4-19B into
fourth with a 1m:20.021. Gene would improve his time, a 1m:19.687, to now be
in third. So with ten minutes left in the session Juan Pablo would move into
third with a 1m:19.502. Raikkonen improves to a 1m:20.633 to be ninth.