WilliamsF1 2nd & 3rd in opening Friday practice

By Andrew Hooper
September 13 2002

   
Italian GP Friday 1st Practice
 
For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the Italian Grand Prix is the site where in 2001the team was to have a very successful race with Juan Pablo celebrating  his first Grand Prix win, while Ralf would  finish third.

Now in 2002 after the first Friday practice session the BMW WilliamsF1 Team could be encouraged by their early performance with Juan Pablo second and his team-mate Ralf third. The "Autodromo Nazionale Monza" is proving to be the perfect stage for the BMW V10 engine.

More than 70 per cent of the Italian track is driven with full-throttle, therefore it is an ideal circuit for the strong BMW P82 engines to show their performance.

After having some changes made to their cars, both drivers would feel generally positive about the set-up of their vehicles. At one stage of the practice both Ralf and Juan Pablo tried out some new adjustments of the wings, but apparently these changes did not pay off. They would finish the session with Juan Pablo second and Ralf third, 1.2 seconds slower than his brother Michael who had set the fastest time.

For the Ferrari team they would again see their lead driver Michael Schumacher  top the timesheets in the opening practice. Michael would complete seventeen  laps, with a best time of 1m:22.869, which was eight tenths faster than Juan Pablo.

For the Jaguar Pedro de la Rosa would finish in fourth, with a best lap of  1m:24.115. Pedro was ahead of Renault's Jarno Trulli and team-mate Eddie Irvine. Both Jaguar drivers were looking very good early in weekend. 

Sauber's Felipe Massa was seventh, followed by the McLaren's of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen. Next was BAR's Olivier Panis in tenth, followed by Jenson Button in the Renault, Toyota’s Mika Salo, Giancarlo Fisichella, and his team-mate Takuma Sato.

Jacques Villeneuve was fifteenth, followed by Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Allan McNish, Alex Yoong who was back at Minardi after a two-race rest, and Mark Webber. Rubens Barrichello was last on the timesheets with a 1:50.300 having completed only two laps.
 
Driver Team (Tyres) Time Gap Laps

01. M Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:22.869 17
02. JP Montoya BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:23.668 0.799 15
03. R Schumacher BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:24.115 1.246 13
04. P de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:24.281 1.412 15
05. J Trulli Renault (M) 1:24.800 1.931 17
06. E Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:24.805 1.936 16
07. F Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:24.929 2.060 15
08. D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:25.044 2.175 16
09. K Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:25.061 2.192 16
10. O Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:25.156 2.287 21
11. J Button Renault (M) 1:25.196 2.327 18
12. M Salo Toyota (M) 1:25.270 2.401 16
13. G Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:25.566 2.697 16
14. T Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:25.820 2.951 17
15. J Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:25.929 3.060 12
16. N Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:26.020 3.151 16
17. A McNish Toyota (M) 1:26.126 3.257 13
18. A Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:27.106 4.237 18
19. M Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:27.453 4.584 18
20. R Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:50.300 27.431 2 
 
 
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