USA: Raikkonen stakes his title claim

In the middle...
By pitpass.com (27/09/2003)
September 29 2003

Fernando Alonso was quickest in the fifteen minute warm-up session, though team-mate Jarno Trulli, who has thus far dominated every session, failed to post a time having gone off at turn ten. To all intents and purposes it looked like an error by the Italian, an error that could cost him dearly.

Juan Pablo Montoya was second quickest ahead of Panis, Raikkonen, Barrichello and Michael.

First out today will be Jos Verstappen, who failed to post a time yesterday. The Dutch Minardi driver will be followed by Nicolas Kiesa, Justin Wilson, Ralph Firman and Jacques Villeneuve.

At 13:00 precisely Jos heads out of his garage to begin his out lap. In recent days he's been linked with a seat at Jaguar next year, now is the time to impress. At the first split the Minardi star posts 23.517, followed by a 54.745 at the second. He crosses the line at 1:15.360.

Team-mate Nicolas Kiesa is next out. At the first split the Dane posts 23.860 followed by a 31.0 at the second. At the line the Minardi driver posts 1:15.644 to go second quickest.

Justin Wilson is desperate to give a good performance this weekend, though there's also a major question mark over the Jaguar's reliability, at least when it comes to a second car. The Englishman posts 22.9 at the first split and 30.2 at the second, completing the lap to go quickest by 1.775s. Nothing less than expected though the R4 looked to be quite a handful out there.

Ralph Firman is next out, the Anglo-Irish driver has missed the last two races. It's 23.2s at the first split followed by a 30.3 at the second. At the line it's 1:14.027 which is good enough for second, though he was clearly struggling with the Jordan.

Last out before the break is Jacques Villeneuve, another driver who really needs a result. At the first split the Canadian posts 22.8s, fastest time so far. At the second split it's 29.9s, he's still quickest. 1:13.050, the BAR star goes quickest by over half-a-second with a very impressive lap.

At the first break it's Villeneuve ahead of Wilson, Firman, Verstappen and Kiesa.

Next out is Nick Heidfeld, who at this point in time is without a seat for 2004. At the first split the German posts 22.6s, that's fastest so far. He loses a little time in the second and third sectors, crossing the line at 1:13.083 to go second.

Olivier Panis is next out, the Frenchman was quite impressive this morning. At the first split it's 22.3, fastest of the day, followed by another fast time (29.4) at the second split. At the line the Toyota driver posts 1:11.920 to quickest by over a second, an impressive lap that puts the previous times in perspective.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen is next out, the German has, for the most part, over-shadowed his team-mate in qualifying this year. At the first split it's 22.7 followed by a 30.2 at the second, he's already well off the pace. He makes up a little time in the final sector to go fourth with a 1:13.447, just behind Heidfeld.

Giancarlo Fisichella is next out, no doubt the Italian was hoping for rain. At the first split the Roman racer posts 23s which he follows with a 30.2 at the second split. At the line it's 1:13.798 which is good enough for sixth, though we still have eleven cars to go.

Cristiano da Matta is last out before the second break. At the first split the Brazilian posts 22.5, slower than his team-mate who tops the timesheets, but not too bad. At the second split it's 29.4s, that's the quickest of the session in that sector. At the line the Toyota driver posts 1:12.326 to go second, albeit 0.4s off his team-mate's pace.

At the second break the order is Panis ahead of da Matta followed by Villeneuve, Heidfeld, Frentzen, Fisichella, Firman, Verstappen and Kiesa.

Jenson Button is next out, meanwhile the mechanics are still working feverishly on Jarno Trulli's damaged Renault.

At the first split Button posts 22.5, just marginally off Panis' pace. At the second split the English youngster posts 29.8, he's lost time. At the line the BAR driver clocks 1:12.695 to go third, albeit 0.7s off the pace.

World Championship hopeful Kimi Raikkonen is next out, this needs to be something very special. He begins his flying lap with 101% commitment, completing the first sector in 22.348, that's fastest so far. He completes the second sector in 29.4 and crosses the line at 1:11.670 to go quickest. Purples in every sector, but in all honesty only 0.250s faster than Panis.

The Finn's championship rival Michael Schumacher is next out, what can he do? The German posts 22.3s at the first split, he's off the pace. At the second split it's 29.8, he's still off the pace. At the line the World Champion posts 1:12.194 to go third, behind Panis, a very, very disappointing lap. That said, what sort of fuel load was he running on?

Fernando Alonso is next out, the Spaniard has been largely overshadowed by his Italian team-mate this weekend. At the first split the Renault star posts 22.2s, fastest of the session. At the second split it's 29.5, he's lost a little ground. 1:12.087 over the line to go third ahead of Schumacher, he'll be pleased with that.

McLaren's David Coulthard is last out before the final break. At the first split the Scotsman posts 22.5, he's 0.2s down on his Finnish team-mate. At the second split it's 29.7 as the McLaren driver continues to lose ground. At the line it's 1:12.297 which puts him fifth behind Schumacher.

With five drivers still to run the order is Raikkonen on provisional pole ahead of Panis, Alonso, Michael, Coulthard, da Matta, Button, Villeneuve, Heidfeld and Frentzen.

The third World Championship protagonist, Juan Pablo Montoya, is next out, this could be the most important qualifying session of the year for the Colombian.

The WilliamsF1 driver comes out to begin his 'out' lap. Like Raikkonen, Montoya begins his flying lap with total commitment completing the first sector in 22.2s, fastest of the session. His second sector is off the pace he loses precious time. At the line it's 1:11.948, good enough for third, but it could have been better.

Ralf Schumacher is next out, the German has made a good return following his Monza crash. At the first split the WilliamsF1 driver posts 22.6 which is surprisingly off the pace, followed by a 29.6 at the second. At the line the German clocks 1:12.078 to go fourth behind his team-mate and ahead of Alonso and brother Michael.

Mark Webber is next out, what can the Australian pull out of the hat? It's 22.8 at the first split, he's already half-a-second down on the big boys. At the second split it's 30s, he's still off the pace but not as bad as the first sector. At the line it's 1:13.269 which puts him twelfth, he'll be bitterly disappointed.

Rubens Barrichello is next out, are we watching Ferrari tactics at work here, is the Brazilian running on fumes? At the first split it's 22.1 he's fastest of the day in this sector. He loses a little ground in the second sector but it's still good, 29.7. At the line it's 1:11.794, he goes second 0.124s slower than Raikkonen.

Last out is Jarno Trulli who, other than the mistake in warm-up, has been the star of the weekend. At the first split it's 22.3s followed by a 29.9 in the second, he's off the pace. At the line it's 1:12.556 which puts him tenth, he'll be absolutely gutted. The question is, was he running heavy or did his confidence take a knock along with the tyre barrier in warm-up.

Bernie Ecclestone couldn't have planned it better, Kimi Raikkonen starts from pole ahead of Barrichello, Panis, Montoya, Ralf, Alonso, Michael, Coulthard, da Matta and Trulli.

As ever tactics are sure to have played a part here, though we won't know until tomorrow afternoon.

That said tomorrow's weather looks to be as changeable as we've seen yesterday and earlier today, which means that all the conjecture could go out the window just like that.

The three title hopefuls are in the top seven with their team-mates in close attendance so if all goes well we could be in for something special. Let's hope so.

This article was written by pitpass.com and is used with permission.