WilliamsF1 5th & 8th in opening Friday practice

By Andrew Hooper
March 19 2004

   
Malaysian GP Friday 1st Practice
 
The opening Friday practice for the BMW WilliamsF1 team would see the teams drivers down in fifth and eight, with Ralf Schumacher heading team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

MontoyaMontoya would have an off-track moment at Turn eight, a corner that would catch out several drivers. Apart from this the team would work through their normal programme, looking at the tyres that they would pick to the rest of the weekend.

The session was run under very high temperatures, thirty five degrees plus, and most teams would limit the number of laps that they put on their engines. With the high temperatures there was concerns over engine reliability.

There were also concerns over the performance of the tyres with track temperatures reaching 53°C. it was expected that the Michelin supplied teams would have the upper hand at this circuit but the opening practice would see the Bridgestone supplied Ferrari team top the times. Michael Schumacher would lead team-mate Rubens Barrichello by almost a second, with a time of 1m:34.437.

But behind this pair came a group of Michelin supplied drivers lead by BAR-Honda test driver Anthony Davidson. Next was Toyota's Ricardo Zonta, just ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Ralf was some 1.7 seconds behind his brother's fastest time.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:34.437 211.303 km/h 11
2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:35.380 + 0.943 8
3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:35.970 + 1.533 21
4. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:36.147 + 1.710 21
5. R. Schumacher WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:36.229 + 1.792 11
6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:36.314 + 1.877 5
7. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:36.478 + 2.041 6
8. Montoya WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:36.606 + 2.169 9
9. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:37.018 + 2.581 5
10. Alonso Renault (M) 1:37.119 + 2.682 13
11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:37.438 + 3.001 4
12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:37.590 + 3.153 12
13. Trulli Renault (M) 1:37.816 + 3.379 10
14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:37.995 + 3.558 5
15. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:38.023 + 3.586 6
16. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:38.086 + 3.649 18
17. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:38.554 + 4.117 11
18. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:38.734 + 4.297 11
19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:38.788 + 4.351 18
20. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:38.831 + 4.394 8
21. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:39.860 + 5.423 14
22. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:41.149 + 6.712 6
23. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:42.556 + 8.119 14
24. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:42.718 + 8.281 5
25. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:43.424 + 8.987 15
 
 
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