Ferrari line up 2nd and 4th in home grand prix

Temperatures are constantly rising and this may well hand the Michelin’s a little advantage but already this weekend the tyre war looks similar to Spa with Michelin looking very good but Ferrari’s superior chassis keeping them on the pace. Practice has shown the Bridgestone to be very consistent and actually to gain speed after a couple of flying laps. So we might see the Ferrari session and other Bridgestone runners being run in stints of two flying laps per run. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo is on the pitwall hoping to see a great session at home for Ferrari. Luca looks very relaxed as he soaks up the atmosphere and he is happy to see Ross Brawn alongside him.

About 20 minutes into the session and the no2 F2002 of Barrichello pulls out of the pitlane and takes to the track to begin his day’s work. Michael Schumacher is out on the track as well and it seems so is the whole grid as the track fills up with most teams finally coming out. Barrichello leads the Ferrari pair and he locks up going into the first chicane and he backs off allowing Michael to take to the front. Schumacher crosses the line with a 1.25 and seems to be going for a second run as Montoya puts in the provisional pole time. And yes Michael is going for it on his second run and goes into the provisional pole with a lap of 1 minute 21.016 seconds and it seems the Bridgestone is much better after being run in. Barrichello failed to put in a decent lap after his lock up and returned to the pits.

Halfway through the session and Barrichello is out on track for his second run of the day. Rubens gets in a clean lap and moves into third place with a 1.21.225. Rubens stayed on the pace on his in lap and he was looking to improve but strangely he peels off into the pits. Still he knows he has plenty of room for improvement. Schumacher is back out on track soon after and he is improving on his time a 1.20.730 for Michael and a fantastic lap, but R Schumacher is flying behind him and he moves into provisional pole with a lap of 1.20.542 as the times continue to tumble. But Michael is coming back at his brother on his second flying lap but as with Barrichello he peels into the pit lane. And he is dropped to third on the grid as Montoya moves into second place.

Final quarter of the session and once again Barrichello makes an improvement on his best but no position gain with a 1.21.086. But once again he was going faster on his second lap and yet again pulled into the pitlane, choosing to save one final run at getting a better position on the grid. The time for pole position is once again dropped as Montoya sets a new fastest lap with a 1.20.264 but Michael is out on track and he is putting pedal to the metal as he goes quickest in sector 1, sector 2 was not so good as he overdrives and remains in third place.

Barrichello is also out and he is looking good to improve and he crosses the line with a 1.20.706 and goes ahead of Michael. But Michael is also on his second run and once again fastest at split 1, just down at split 2 and he takes the line with a 1.20.521 and moves back into second place. But the Williams duo still have a run left to try and take that front row once more. But the Ferrari day is over. Final minutes of the session and the red flags are out as Raikkonen pays little attention to a faster Jordan of Sato and they collide.

So not a bad session for Ferrari with the tyres not being ideal for qualifying they have secured very good grid positions and have given themselves a very good chance for the race. The Bridgestone tyres have shown great consistency over long runs so it should be all good for the race.

Full Times

1. MONTOYA Williams BMW 1'20"264 259.379 Km/h
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1'20"521 + 0'00"257
3. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1'20"542 + 0'00"278
4. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1'20"706 + 0'00"442
5. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 1'21"163 + 0'00"899
6. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth 1'21"606 + 0'01"342
7. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1'21"803 + 0'01"539
8. DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth 1'21"960 + 0'01"696
9. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1'22"126 + 0'01"862
10. SALO Toyota 1'22"318 + 0'02"054
11. TRULLI Renault 1'22"383 + 0'02"119
12. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda 1'22"515 + 0'02"251
13. MCNISH Toyota 1'22"521 + 0'02"257
14. MASSA Sauber Petronas 1'22"565 + 0'02"301
15. HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1'22"601 + 0'02"337
16. PANIS BAR Honda 1'22"645 + 0'02"381
17. BUTTON Renault 1'22"714 + 0'02"450
18. SATO Jordan Honda 1'23"166 + 0'02"902
19. WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1'23"794 + 0'03"530
20. YOONG Minardi Asiatech 1'25"111 + 0'04"847