WilliamsF1 6th & 7th in opening Chinese qualifying

The opening qualifying session would see the track temperature very high at forty one degrees, possibly favouring the Michelin teams. The first driver to run was Rubens Barrichello. Rubens would set a time of 24.4 in the first sector, followed by 27.5 in the second. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:33.787, closely matching his practice time.

Next was team-mate Michael Schumacher. He would be 0.006 faster in sector one, but he would lose a small amount of time in sector two. But is a stunning third sector would pull back this time to finish with a 1m:33.185 to be 0.6 ahead of Rubens. This was the quickest time at the circuit so far. Jenson Button was next and he would be four tenths down in the first sector, losing more time in the second to finish his lap with a time of 1m:34.273 to be over a second slower than Michael.

BAR team-mate Sato was next out and his lap would see him 0.6 behind at sector two. He would finish ahead of Button with a time of 1m:34.051, but regardless of his time he will drop ten places on the grid. The first of the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers was out with Juan Pablo 0.3 down in the first sector, a further 0.2 down in the second, to finish with a time of 1m:34.016 to move into third.

David Coulthard was next in his McLaren. He would be 0.5 down in sector one, another 0.3 in sector two, to finish in sixth with a time of 1m:34.355. Another of the Bridgestone runners was next with Sauber's Fisichella. The Italian would be 0.5 down at sector two. He would jump into second with a time of 1m:33.738. His final sector time was quicker than Michael's time.

Next came the Jaguar of Mark Webber. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:334 to be seventh. He was not helped by a slow top speed. Ricardo Zonta was out on his lap and he would be 0.5 down after just the first sector. The rest of his lap would be no better finishing 1.7 seconds behind Michael's time, a lap time of 1m:34.958. The second Sauber of Massa was out and at sector two was just 0.3 down. He would finish with a time of 1m:33816 to move into fourth. This would see Bridgestone drivers in the top four positions. No Michelin driver had yet been able to get into the 1m:33 bracket.

The second jaguar of Christian Klein was next but his lap would see him 1.4 seconds down at sector two. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:35.447 to be 2.2 seconds off the pace. Could Nick Heidfeld match his sixth in practice. The Jordan driver would be 1.1 seconds down at sector two. He would set a time of 1m:34.808 to be tenth. Minardi's Zsolt Baumgartner was next out. The Hungarian would be 1.4 seconds down after just the first sector. He would finish with a time of 1m:37.510 to be a massive 4.3 seconds off the
fastest time.

Fernando Alonso is the first Renault was next out. But he would only manage tenth fastest with a time of 1m:34.599. Gianmaria Bruni in the second Minardi would be six tenths faster than team-mate Baumgartner in the first sector. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:36.623 to be fourteenth. Next came Kimi Raikkonen. He was three tenths down in the first sector, a further tenth in the second, to complete his lap with a brilliant time of 1m:33.499 to go second. His third sector was

The second Toyota of Olivier Panis was next. He would be 0.7 seconds down at the second sector, finishing with a time of 1m:34.153 to be eighth. Now it was the turn of Ralf Schumacher. He was 0.2 down after sector one, a further 0.2 at sector two, to finish with a time of 1m:33.849 to move into sixth pushing Juan Pablo into seventh. The final two drivers were Villeneuve and Timo Glock.

Jacques would almost a second down after sector two. He would complete his lap and move into thirteenth position. At least he was able to beat team-mate Alonso. For Glock his lap would see him set a time of 1m:37.143 to be 3.9 seconds off the pace. So that would see the end of the first qualifying session.