WilliamsF1 7th & 11th in final Brazilian practice


WilliamsF1 Garage

By Andrew Hooper
October 23 2004

The BMW WilliamsF1 would see their drivers only manage 7th & 11th in final Brazilian practice, with Ralf beating Juan Pablo. based on the practice times it does not look like qualifying will produce a great result. In the closing MInutes Michael Schumacher would crash his Ferrari.

   
Brazilian GP Saturday 4th Practice
 
The final practice session in Brazil would see the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, finish in seventh and eleventh positions. Based on their performances in the practice sessions it does not look like the WilliamsF1 team can hope for much come qualifying.

MontoyaThe final practice session at the Interlagos circuit would see Jordan's Timo Glock the first driver out onto the circuit. Glock would set the fastest time, a 1m:14.852, but this would be easily beaten by firstly Jaguar's Mark Webber with a lap time of 1m:13.799, followed by McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen with a 1m:12.549.

But it would be Ferrari's Michael Schumacher who would set an impressive time of 1m:11.270 to go fastest. The Renault, BAR and WilliamsF1 drivers would all set their early times, but Michael would remain on top. Toyota's Jarno Trulli would move into fifth with a 1m:11.711.

So with thirty minutes remaining Renault's Jacques Villeneuve would move into second with a lap time of 1m:11.586. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello would take this position from Jacques but Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso would reclaim it. But in a stunning time David Coulthard would smash the circuit record with a time of 1m:10.786 to go fastest. David's time at the top would be short lived when Kimi Raikkonen would beat his time with a brilliant 1m:10.385.

Michael Schumacher would respond to this challenge and would go even faster with a time of 1m:10.352. He would be joined in the 1m:10 second bracket by BAR's Jenson Button who went third fastest with a time of 1m:10.627. Team-mate Sato was down in fourteenth. With fifteen minutes left Sauber's Felipe Massa was now in fifth with a 1m:11.142.

Ferrari were looking strong and this was backed up when Rubens Barrichello was to set the quickest final sector to go fastest, with a time 1m:10.229. As the minutes counted down Sato would move into seventh with a 1m:11.127, while Alonso was now in fifth. BAR's Jenson Button would set the fastest first sector time, a 17.6 seconds, but would lose time in the rest of the lap to only go fourth fastest with a 1m:10.480.

But the big shock of the session was when, in the final minutes, Michael Schumacher would crash his car backwards into the barriers. His car would catch fire but it was quickly extinguished by a marshal. Michael would get out of the car and examine the damage. It was later announced that he would have to use his spare car in qualifying which will see him lose ten places on the grid.

The session was red flagged and even with his accident the Ferrari's were in first and second, with the McLaren's of Raikkonen and Coulthard in third and fourth.

 
Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:10.229 15
2. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:10.352 + 0.123 15
3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:10.385 + 0.156 15
4. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:10.413 + 0.184 11
5. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:10.480 + 0.251 16
6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:10.683 + 0.454 11
7. R. Schumacher WilliamsF1-BMW (M) 1:10.997 + 0.768 9
8. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:11.127 + 0.898 18
9. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:11.130 + 0.901 23
10. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:11.142 + 0.913 10
11. Montoya WilliamsF1-BMW (M) 1:11.157 + 0.928 12
12. Villeneuve Renault (M) 1:11.321 + 1.092 16
13. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:11.425 + 1.196 5
14. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:11.688 + 1.459 16
15. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:11.711 + 1.482 15
16. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:12.248 + 2.019 21
17. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:12.299 + 2.070 12
18. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:12.990 + 2.761 17
19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:13.818 + 3.589 17
20. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:14.411 + 4.182 16 
 
 
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