Ralf moves into 3rd after 3rd practice in Japan

By Andrew Hooper
October 12 2002

Japanese GP Saturday 1st Practice
After Saturday's opening practice both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers would finish in the top six with Ralf third and Juan Pablo sixth. Both drivers would be down on the fastest times by over a second.

With the session starting it would be Juan Pablo who would be the first BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver to leave the pit-lane for a timed run. Unfortunately Michael Schumacher would ruin his first flying lap by getting in the way, forcing him to lift and break off his flying lap.

Juan Pablo MontoyaWhilst Juan Pablo is on his second flying lap, Ralf would also leave the pits to start practice. Both drivers would spend time in the pits making adjustments to their cars. During the session Ralf would put in a lap that would see him go second fastest.

Allan McNish is in the pits and we have just heard that the Toyota team will have to change his engine. The team have around 40 mins to change the engine before the start of the next session.

But once again it would be the Ferrari's who would return to the top of the times. After his Friday problems Michael would again set the pace setting a fastest lap time of 1m:32.978 to finish in front of second placed Rubens Barrichello. Michael was able to set a time a second faster than anyone else on his first lap.

Ralf Schumacher would head six other Michelin runners including the McLaren pair of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen, Juan-Pablo, Renault's Jarno Trulli, and Jaguar's Eddie Irvine.

After the Ferrari's the next Bridgestone runner would be Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella in ninth, followed by Sauber's Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld, and  Takuma Sato.

Renault's Jenson Button was thirteenth, followed by Toyota’s Mika Salo who will drive his final race tomorrow, Pedro de la Rosa, and the BAR's of Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve. Villeneuve still has had little time on the track after his Friday problems.

Allan McNish was eighteenth, ahead of Mark Webber and Alex Yoong in the Minardi Asiatechs.

Driver Team (Tyres) Time Gap Laps

01. M Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:32.978 07
02. R Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:33.688 0.710 07
03. R Schumacher BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:34.142 1.164 08
04. D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.540 1.562 09
05. K Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.552 1.574 08
06. JP Montoya BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:34.751 1.773 08
07. J Trulli Renault (M) 1:35.330 2.352 08
08. E Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:35.533 2.555 07
09. G Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:35.541 2.563 08
10. F Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:35.587 2.609 09
11. N Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:35.999 3.021 08
12. T Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:36.199 3.221 12
13. J Button Renault (M) 1:36.224 3.246 07
14. M Salo Toyota (M) 1:36.265 3.287 07
15. P de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:36.342 3.364 07
16. O Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:36.792 3.814 11
17. J Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:36.830 3.852 12
18. A McNish Toyota (M) 1:37.306 4.328 04
19. M Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:37.673 4.695 10
20. A Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:39.254 6.276 11
 
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