A Ferrari domination in opening free practice

Michael Schumacher got the biggest welcome as he took his F2002 out for a couple of exploratory laps much to the delight of his many fans in the grandstands. Rubens Barrichello is out for a few laps also early in the session. And the Brazilian is quickly improving his times and 20 minutes into the session and he puts in the fastest lap seen so far, as Ralf Schumacher becomes the first driver to spin on the new circuit.

Michael Schumacher is also back out on track and he now moves to the top of the timesheets ahead of Barrichello. Michael continues to lap as he goes faster and faster as the track begins to get more grip and rubber down. The no1 F2002 continues to lap and once again he improves his time on his ninth lap, Schumacher’s fastest lap so far is 1 minute 17.004 seconds nearly 1 second faster than second placed man Barrichello.

15 minutes of the session to go and Barrichello and Schumacher are back on track. Rubens is improving and he moves to the top of the timesheet as he is the first driver to go into the 16’s with a lap of 1.16.979 and he continues to lap and improves once more with a 1.16.912 as Schumacher has a minor off track excursion but continues without problems. Barrichello’s time at the top was soon to come to an end as Schumacher once again goes faster by quite a distance with a 1.16.323 but he then spins on his next lap as he pushes too hard at the new hairpin bend.

Closing moments of the session and both Ferrari’s are back out on track and once again improving on their earlier times, Barrichello is greatly improving although he still seems a little uncomfortable with the handling of the F2002 as in car shots show him see sawing at the steering wheel through many of the turns, however he goes a lot better and comes close to Michael with a 1.16.511. And as the session comes to an end Barrichello gets ahead of Michael once more with a lap of 1.16.248 Schumacher was going faster but the chequered flag is out and the opening session is over with Ferrari dominating the session and looking already very strong for the remainder of the weekend.

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