WilliamsF1 3rd and 7th on Australian GP Grid

Both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers would maintain their grid positions after the second qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix. Such were the gaps between each of the drivers after the first session it was virtually impossible for a driver to make up a grid position. Despite this is was till a good result for the team with Mark in third and Nick in seventh.

In a dry session BAR's Takuma Sato would be the first driver in the second qualifying session. Michael Schumacher had changed his engine meaning he would start from the back of the grid. Massa was meant to be first but the team decided to not run his car given the fact that he would be starting from the rear of the grid. Sato would do one lap and put his car back in the garage the BAR team joining Sauber is not feeling there was any value in doing the qualifying lap.

Michael Schumacher would take to the track but he would cruise around and take his car straight back into the pits. Brother Ralf would come out and would start his lap. Ralf was pushing his car and would finish his lap taking provisional pole. He would have an aggregate time of 3m:22.717. Minardi's Patrick Friesacher would start his flying lap and he would look out of shape through out the whole up. He was 2.6 seconds slower after sector two. He would finish with an aggregate time of 3m:28.363.

Christijan Albers was next up but would have a problem with his car and would pull it off to the side at the exit of the pitlane and get out. He was to have problems with gear selection. Renault's Fernando Alonso was next out. Alonso would start his lap and was over four seconds up on Ralf through sector one.
The rest of his lap would see him pull out further time over Ralf to finish his lap with an aggregate time of 3m:17.466.

Jordan's Tiago Monteiro was next out and his lap would se him finish with a aggregate time of 3m:20.329 to be second. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was out on his lap and was a second up on Alonso's time through sector one. He would finish his lap with an aggregate time of 3m:16.822. His lap was 2 seconds
slower than Alonso but with the combined times he was able to move ahead of the Renault. Montoya was next and the McLaren driver and he would move straight to the top of the times with an aggregate time of 3m:14.645.

The next group of runners was Kimi Raikkonen, Narain Karthikeyan, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard. Raikkonen would start his qualifying lap and he was up 0.5 seconds after sector one. But he would make a big mistake with his car running wide at Turn 12 and was very lucky not to hit the inside wall. He understeered straight out onto the grass at the corner. Kimi would finish a second down on his team-mate Montoya.

But keep it in mind that the teams can change their fuel loads after the first qualifying so it is another unknown. Narain Karthikeyan would start his flying lap in the second Jordan and would finish with an time of 3m:17.092 to move into fourth. Jenson Button was out and he would be up on Montoya by 3 seconds after sector one, aggregate time. He would finish with a aggregate time of 3m:12.128 to go to the top of the times. Nick Heidfeld was out and was 2.2 seconds up, aggregate time, after sector one. He would go fastest with an aggregate time of 3m:09.130 to be in provisional pole. Nick was told to save fuel by his team after he completed his lap.

Red Bull's David Coulthard was next out and would finish with a 3m:07.212. David's lap was the fastest set so far in this session. Such were the gaps between the drivers from the first session that there would really be little change in the grid. Button would say that in his lap he was not even pushing as there was no point.

The final group would see Christian Klien out first followed by Jacques Villeneuve, Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella. Klein would start his lap and was 0.6 seconds up on Coulthard in sector one. For the Austrian it was a clean lap and would finish with an aggregate time of 3m:07.477 to slot in behind Coulthard.

Nick would comment on his lap: " ... lap was quite good ... balance was OK. We are in good starting position and should be able to score some points from there." Next was Sauber's Jacques Villeneuve. His combined time was fastest, and would set the quickest lap so far this morning. He would finish with an
aggregate time of 3m:06.846. Now it was Mark Webber's lap. He would be 1.44 seconds behind Trulli and would really have to do something spectacular with his lap. He would complete his lap going fastest with the combined times. It would also be the quickest lap so far this morning. His combined time was a 3m:04.996.

Trulli was out and the Italian was up after sector one. He would complete his lap 0.5 seconds ahead of Mark. Mark was to take a full second off the Toyota driver but it was not good enough to pull him onto the front row. Third was still a excellent result. Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella would starts his flying lap and was 2 seconds ahead prior to his lap. He would secure pole with a combined time of 3m:01.460. He was told to keep off the throttle to save fuel on his return to the pits.

Mark Webber when interviewed by local television said: "people couldn't really improve on their times from yesterday because the times were so spread out so that was fortunate for us that yesterday went well for us ... but yeh, second row we will try and get away from there well. It would be nice if we can get JT off the
line if we can, then settle in to our race pace and hope that our race pace is sensible to try and stay out there as long as we can, but there are definitely some quick boys coming and we we'll try and weather the storm as long as we can.

As for the level of grip that he was able to get Mark added: "Yeh, that lap felt pretty low on grip for me, but still I was reasonably happy with the lap so ah, its
hard. The tyre companies have to bring a tyre here which has to deal with a track temperature of well over sort of 40 degrees because Melbourne you just never know in terms of weather what you can get so that's while we are a little bit out because the tyre manufacturers have to prepare for everything.

Mark was asked for his views on the qualifying format, especially after David Coulthard had expressed his disappointment with this qualifying format feeling like it wasn't really the most exciting sporting challenge.

Mark said: Well, it was frustrating cause yesterday hammered today's one so heavily. We will have to go through Malaysia to see how all that goes. But I thought the one time lap was better just not the aggregate.

As for his the performance of his car Mark added: "You always want more. We'll see how we go."