All WilliamsF1 2nd row after Hungarian qualifying


Ralf in third

By Andrew Hooper
August 17 2002

Qualifying for the 2002 Hungarian GP would produce an all WilliamsF1 2nd row with Ralf in third and Juan Pablo fourth. After been second for a large part of qualifying Ralf would see his brother Michael snatch this place away from him. Even so the result should help WilliamsF1 produce a good result.

   
Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying
 
As a difficult practice leading up the qualifying it was encouraging for the WilliamsF1 team to have both their drivers finish the session in third and fourth positions on the grid. Ralf was faster than Juan Pablo by just under a second. He was some four tenths of a second behind his brother Michael who was second on the grid.

Ralf finished thirdQualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix would be run under fine conditions with at the moment with an air temperature of 26 degrees.

Minardi's Anthony Davidson was the first man on the track, setting a time of 1m:19.206. After twenty minutes of inactivity Villeneuve and Montoya would take to the track. Juan Pablo would set a time of 1m:15.228, which is 1.1 secs ahead of Villeneuve. Raikkonen would set a time of 1m:15.4. He was joined by Ralf with a time of 1m:14.571. As we moved into the final minutes of the first half hour the order was Ralf ahead of Juan Pablo, Raikkonen, Massa, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Villeneuve and Davidson.

Michael Schumacher would finally take to the track as well. Michael would put in a good lap, no mistakes, but not too spectacular, with a time of 1m:14.0 to put him into the lead. McNish would move up into eighth. On his first lap Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello had to abort his lap as Button spun in front of him.

So with their first set of runs behind the drivers the order was Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Raikkonen, Panis, Massa, Trulli, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Villeneuve, McNish, de la Rosa, Salo, Irvine, Webber. Outside the 107% ruling was Davidson. But Davidson would improve to sixteenth position with a 1m:17.9 lap. It was interesting to see what Barrichello would do on his second run, since the Brazilian was faster than Michael Schumacher in the first sector.

In their next runs Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa would improve to seventh position, while Massa moves up into fifth. Team-mate Heidfeld is back in ninth. On his next lap Rubens would go quickest with an outstanding a 1m:13.346. Barrichello's current best was some 0.8 secs quicker than last year's pole set by Michael Schumacher.

Juan Pablo preparesRenault's Jenson Button would move into fourth, and McLaren's David Coulthard fifth. It seems the track is really getting faster now the more rubber is laid down. On his next lap Juan Pablo would move back up into fourth with a lap time of 1m:14.7.

As the clock approached the final fifteen minutes the order was Barrichello (1:13.346), Ralf Schumacher (0.4), M Schumacher (0.7), Montoya (1.4), Button (1.9), Coulthard (1.9), Fisichella (1.9), Trulli (2.0), Raikkonen (2.1), Massa (2.1). Then Panis, Sato, Villeneuve, de la Rosa, Heidfeld, Irvine, Salo, McNish, Webber, and Davidson.

Michael Schumacher was ready to launch an attack against his team-mate for pole. On his next lap he was 0.166 behind at T1, but could only produce a time of 1m:13.417 and was 0.07 secs behind his team-mate. Both Ferraris were back on the front row.

Ralf would lose his Williams in the penultimate corner and was able to get back to the pits. This lap wouldn't have been an improvement anyway so his mistake really did not matter. On his next lap Raikkonen would fail to improve as he was held up by a BAR.

Ralf's Steering WheelOn his next lap there was no improvement for Barrichello. Jordan's Fisichella was on a quick lap which would see him set a time of 1m:14.880 moving him into fifth. Salo would improve to seventeenth, but Toyota is not competitive on this track. Team-mate McNish was in eighteenth with only the Minardi's behind them, Webber 0.4 ahead of Davidson.

Trulli would take sixth, ahead of Button. In the final minutes Michael would take to the track but he would lose time in the second sector and finally set a time of 1m:13.392, which is an improvement but still only good enough for second. After an attempt by Ralf to improve his time saw him still behind the Ferrari's the final order was Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Fisichella, and Trulli.

With qualifying playing such an important role in determining the outcome of the race it was crucial that the WilliamsF1 drivers were near the front. To produce an all Williamsf1 second row at least allows the team to look at achieving a good race result. The fact that their main rivals in the championship McLaren are way down the grid, with Coulthard tenth and Raikkonen eleventh is even more encouraging. As for the teams chances of a race win, it will come down very much to how Ferrari performs come race day.
 
Pos. Name Country Team Time

1 R. Barrichello Brazil Ferrari 1.13.333
2 M. Schumacher Germany Ferrari 1.13.392
3 R. Schumacher Germany Williams 1.13.746
4 J.P. Montoya Colombia Williams 1.14.706
5 G. Fisichella Italy Jordan 1.14.880
6 J. Trulli Italy Renault 1.14.980
7 F. Massa Brazil Sauber 1.15.047
8 N. Heidfeld Germany Sauber 1.15.129
9 J. Button England Renault 1.15.214
10 D. Coulthard Scotland McLaren 1.15.223
11 K. Raikkonen Finland McLaren 1.15.243
12 O. Panis France BAR 1.15.556
13 J. Villeneuve Canada BAR 1.15.583
14 T. Sato Japan Jordan 1.15.804
15 P. De la Rosa Spain Jaguar 1.15.867
16 E. Irvine Northern Ireland Jaguar 1.16.419
17 M. Salo Finland Toyota 1.16.473
18 A. McNish Scotland Toyota 1.16.626
19 M. Webber Australia Minardi 1.17.428
20 A. Davidson England Minardi 1.17.959
 
 
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