It was some 30 minutes into the session before the Ferrari’s emerged from their garage, after watching the early runners struggle to find grip it was time for Schumacher and Barrichello to take to the track and see how it is responding in the extra afternoon heat. Barrichello is first to cross the line and he sets the fastest lap so far with a 1 minute 15.411 seconds. But he was not to remain fastest for very long as Schumacher moves into provisional pole with a lap of 1.15.059, which is slower than he went this morning but still good enough for a healthy lead at the front for this moment.

Second run of the day for the Ferrari duo sees Rubens Barrichello move into the provisional pole position with a great lap of 1.14.861. Schumacher’s second attempt it ruined by a mistake and he returns to the pits aborting his lap. Schumacher is back for his third attempt and as is back into pole position with a 1.14.628 but Barrichello is also on track and is responding to Schumacher’s time. But he is not able to match it this time and settles for second for the time being. But both Ferrari’s are to be bettered by R Schumacher who pops into the pole with a lap of 1.14.570 as the track gets more and more grip the times continue to tumble.

3 minutes to go and we are all set for another qualifying showdown between the Ferrari’s and the Williams. Rubens and Michael are both on track and hoping to get in a final clean lap to challenge the pole time of Ralf. Barrichello is first to go for it and he is matching the pace of the Williams and crosses the line with a 1.14.693 and remains in third for now. Michael is next to go for it and he is finding lots of traffic in his way and he is up at split 1 and split 2 and crosses the line with a 1.14.389 to retake the pole position but we have to wait on Montoya and Ralf to see how they respond. But they have no answer and Ferrari will line up 1st and 3rd in tomorrow’s race, which will be a strong place for them to start from judging by recent race performance.

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