WilliamsF1 5th & 6th in opening Saturday practice

By Andrew Hooper
September 13 2003

   
Italian GP Saturday 1st Practice
 
With the announcement that Ralf Schumacher will not be taking any further part in the weekends racing and that Marc Gene was to replace Ralf the WilliamsF1 team went into the opening Saturday practice.

The session would see Sauber's Heinz Harald Frentzen set an early time with a lap of 1m:31. With the majority of drivers taking to the circuit, except for those from the Renault team, Frentzen would set a more competitive time in the 1m:24. Juan Pablo would go out and his time would see him down into the 1m:23.

MontoyaHe would be joined by the two Ferraris, with Rubens quickly moving to the top of the times. He would soon be passed by his team-mate Michael Schumacher, with both these drivers the only ones to set times in the 1m:22 bracket.

Michael would have one moment early in the session when he was to run wide and put two wheels into the gravel, forcing him to return to his pit. Both Trulli and Alonso were now on the circuit. Early in the session BAR's Jacques Villeneuve would be sixth.

With nearly twenty minutes of the forty five minute session run McLaren's David Coulthard would move into third. Both Barrichello and Gene were out on track again. For Marc this was to be a difficult time coming to grips with FW25.

BAR's Jenson Button was now in fourth. Juan Pablo would make a mistake go straight at the chicane. As the half hour mark was approached both Michael and Rubens would improve on their sector times but it would be Michael who would set the quickest time. For Toyota's Olivier Panis he would not cover a a single flying lap, always coming back into the pits.

Juan Pablo would change his set-up and return to track. Team-mate Marc Gene was completing a lot of laps in order to catch up. He was currently eighth. Juan Pablo would move into fifth, still 0.6 behind Michael Schumacher. Barrichello, Coulthard and Button filled second through to fourth.

For Olivier Panis he would spend a considerable amount of time in the pits, while For Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella he would improve his best time. Despite this he was still way down the order in sixteenth.

For Toyota Christiano Da Matta would improve all his sector times and move into tenth. With forty minutes of the session completed both Ferrari drivers were back in the pits, while Frentzen was to have a spin but was able to keep going. With Marc back out and completing more laps he would improve his time to move into sixth just behind Juan Pablo.

Michael Schumacher would improve his time by 0.3 second, with a time of 1m:21.623. He was still the only driver to drop into the 1m:21 bracket. Jaguar's Mark Webber would spend the session looking at his race setup and would finish in fifteenth. With the session just about to finish Juan Pablo would take to the track and when pushing hard he would put two wheels into the gravel ruining his lap.

With the session coming to an end and with the two Ferrari one-two, 1 second ahead of the rest of the field things were looking far more positive for the Italian team.
 
P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps Laps

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'21"623 255.502 Km/h 13
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'22"146 + 0'00"523 15
3. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"552 + 0'00"929 17
4. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'22"642 + 0'01"019 19
5. 3 MONTOYA WilliamsF1 BMW M 1'22"646 + 0'01"023 18
6. 4 M. GENE WilliamsF1 BMW M 1'22"685 + 0'01"062 21
7. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"718 + 0'01"095 14
8. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'22"731 + 0'01"108 18
9. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'22"735 + 0'01"112 16
10. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'23"120 + 0'01"497 19
11. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'23"312 + 0'01"689 12
12. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'23"572 + 0'01"949 17
13. 15 WILSON Jaguar Cosworth M 1'23"955 + 0'02"332 16
14. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'24"134 + 0'02"511 13
15. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'24"454 + 0'02"831 17
16. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'25"194 + 0'03"571 12
17. 18 KIESA Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"870 + 0'04"247 18
18. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"934 + 0'04"311 15
19. 36 BAUMGARTNER Jordan Ford B 1'26"295 + 0'04"672 17
20. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'34"100 + 0'12"477 4 
 
 
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