Juan Pablo improves in opening Saturday practice


Marc Gene

By Andrew Hooper
July 3 2004

BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya would improve his time in opening Saturday practice, finishing seventh. Team-mate Marc Gene was down in eleventh.

   
French GP Saturday 1st Practice
 
After the difficulties of Friday the BMW WilliamsF1 team was hoping for an improvement in their fortunes. Juan Pablo would help deliver on this by finishing the session in seventh. Team-mate Marc Gene unfortunately was down in thirteenth.

Montoya talks to his engineerAt the front it would be Michael Schumacher who would set the fastest time followed by McLaren's David Coulthard driving the new MP4-19B. Michael was able to set a time in the 1m:14 second bracket, a time of 1m:14.944. He would lead Coulthard by 0.458 seconds.

Coulthard's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen would complete an installation lap before sitting out the remaining session while his car was worked on by mechanics.

In third just 0.021 seconds behind was Renault's Jarno Trulli, followed by teammate Fernando Alonso. The Toyota drivers continued to impress with Olivier Panis fifth ahead of Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello in sixth, Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya seventh and Jaguar driver Mark Webber eighth.

Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella was ninth with BAR's Jenson Button completing the top-ten.

Fisichella had spun at turn thirteen early in the session but was able to continue, while Trulli was forced off the circuit briefly after braking late at the same corner.

As announced yesterday the drivers had the opportunity to finalise their tyre choices for qualifying and the race during the morning's two practice sessions.
 
Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:14.944 12
2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.402 + 0.458 11
3. Trulli Renault (M) 1:15.423 + 0.479 11
4. Alonso Renault (M) 1:15.434 + 0.490 15
5. Panis Toyota (M) 1:15.478 + 0.534 14
6. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.500 + 0.556 14
7. Montoya WilliamsF1-BMW (M) 1:15.529 + 0.585 16
8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:15.907 + 0.963 8
9. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:15.910 + 0.966 11
10. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.304 + 1.360 15
11. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:16.384 + 1.440 17
12. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.569 + 1.625 16
13. Gene WilliamsF1-BMW (M) 1:16.608 + 1.664 18
14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:16.619 + 1.675 14
15. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:16.669 + 1.725 27
16. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:17.174 + 2.230 15
17. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:17.399 + 2.455 19
18. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:17.731 + 2.787 14
19. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:17.846 + 2.902 16
20. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) No Time 
 
 
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