WilliamsF1 5th & 6th in first Saturday practice

By Andrew Hooper
August 31 2002

Belgian GP Saturday 1st Practice
Saturday's opening practice in Belgium would see both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers in the top six, with Ralf fifth and Juan Pablo sixth. With the weather helping and Michelin providing a tyre that was proving to be consistent the WilliamsF1 drivers were performing well but were still some two seconds slower than the faster Ferrari's.

After losing out to the McLaren's on Friday Ferrari was back on top in this session with Michael Schumacher putting in a sensational last minute 1:44.951, eight tenths faster than team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Behind the Ferrari's came the McLaren pair with Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard third and fourth. Like the WilliamsF1 drivers they also were been helped by Michelin's tyres.

Behind the WilliamsF1 drivers came Toyota's Allan McNish who continued his good form of Friday with the seventh best time. Next was BAR’s Olivier Panis, Renault's Jenson Button, and Jordan’s Giancarlo Fisichella.

Jarno Trulli finished eleventh, followed by Takuma Sato, Pedro de la Rosa, and Felipe Massa, who along with Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld is struggling to find an effective balance.

Eddie Irvine was fifteenth, followed by Mika Salo, Heidfeld, Jacques Villeneuve, and the Minardi's of Davidson and Webber, both men having stalled their cars during the session.
Driver Team (Tyres) Time Gap Laps

01. M Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:44.951 7
02. R Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:45.839 0.888 8
03. K Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:46.353 1.402 5
04. D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:46.593 1.642 10
05. R Schumacher BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:46.887 1.936 10
06. JP Montoya BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:47.276 2.325 10
07. A McNish Toyota (M) 1:47.670 2.719 12
08. O Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:47.702 2.751 13
09. J Button Renault (M) 1:47.732 2.781 12
10. G Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:47.826 2.875 8
11. J Trulli Renault (M) 1:47.896 2.945 12
12. T Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:48.032 3.081 12
13. P de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:48.142 3.191 9
14. F Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:48.413 3.462 9
15. E Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:48.420 3.469 9
16. M Salo Toyota (M) 1:48.593 3.642 11
17. N Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:48.760 3.809 12
18. J Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:48.784 3.833 11
19. A Davidson Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:49.386 4.435 11
20. M Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:50.507 5.556 6
 
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