Michael fastest as Rubens suffers


By Greig Murray
September 13 2002

The opening free practice session for the 2002 Italian Grand Prix ended with Ferrari on top courtesy of Michael Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello suffered from brake problems and did no running in the first session.

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The Italian Tifosi were in the historic Monza circuit as the opening practice session of the weekend got underway. Monza has really improved the facilities at the track since last season with a whole new pit complex gaining much applause from all teams and the podium certainly looks innovative as far as F1 goes. The top three drivers will walk across a gantry to take to the circular podium which itself hangs over the race track.

With a 4 day test programme being held here last week the practice sessions might be a bit slow as the teams prefer to wait for the real action to begin. However with the Tifosi in a party mood they will be hoping to see plenty of the red cars on track in today’s two sessions. Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello both tested here last week and are confident that the F2002 will perform very well around the high speed circuit.

Overnight rain has left the track still damp as the first session gets going. A dry line is visible on the track but offline remains wet. The Ferrari team will be running on Friday without Ross Brawn on the pitwall as he recovers from some back problems. Brawn is now reported to be in Maranello with a constant stream of data being fed to him and that he is expected to make his return tomorrow. 20 minutes into the session and the red cars are out on track and lapping up the cheers from the crowd, but the stands are pretty empty early this morning in Italy. Schumacher’s first run of the day has him top of the timesheets. Michael continues to lap and drops his best down to a lap of 1.23.524 as he settles into the track conditions.

Halfway through the session and Schumacher is back on track and he improves his best to a 1.23.074. But not so good for Barrichello who remains in the garage with what appears to be brake problems. It seems Rubens found the pedal to be soft and asked for the brakes to be bled and when he was told it was fixed he found it to be even worse. It was a very animated Brazilian that jumped straight back out of the car and left the mechanics to work at the problem once more.

15 minutes to go in the session and work continues on the Barrichello chassis as once again Michael Schumacher takes to the track. And despite being on used tyres he once again improves on his best lap. A 1.22.869 as the pole time of last season is already in sight. So a strong early showing from Ferrari despite the problems for Barrichello it should not set his weekend back that much with so much testing data already gathered.

Full Times

1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1'22"869 251.225 Km/h
2. MONTOYA Williams BMW 1'23"668 + 0'00"799
3. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1'24"115 + 0'01"246
4. DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth 1'24"281 + 0'01"412
5. TRULLI Renault 1'24"800 + 0'01"931
6. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth 1'24"805 + 0'01"936
7. MASSA Sauber Petronas 1'24"929 + 0'02"060
8. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1'25"044 + 0'02"175
9. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 1'25"061 + 0'02"192
10. PANIS BAR Honda 1'25"156 + 0'02"287
11. BUTTON Renault 1'25"196 + 0'02"327
12. SALO Toyota 1'25"270 + 0'02"401
13. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda 1'25"566 + 0'02"697
14. SATO Jordan Honda 1'25"820 + 0'02"951
15. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1'25"929 + 0'03"060
16. HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1'26"020 + 0'03"151
17. MCNISH Toyota 1'26"126 + 0'03"257
18. YOONG Minardi Asiatech 1'27"106 + 0'04"237
19. WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1'27"453 + 0'04"584
20. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1'50"300 + 0'27"431

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