WilliamsF1 team improves in 2nd Friday practice.


JPM fourth fastest

By Andrew Hooper
July 5 2002

The second Friday practice for the 2002 British GP woould be run under wet conditions. Several drivers would spin, including Ralf Schumacher. Juan Pablo would improve to finish fourth. After losing most of the first practice session it was a big step forward.

   
British GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
In a continuation of the wet conditions of the earlier Friday practice the drivers were again faced with a wet track for the second session. At the end of the session Juan Pablo was fourth while Ralf was down in eleventh. The session had variable weather with the track drying at one stage only for it to rain again.

Ralf SchumacherAs for any conclusions that could be drawn the most obvious one was the performance of the tyres, wet and intermediate, of the two tyre companies. Michelin wets seemed to be better but once the Bridgestone runners were able to go onto intermediates they gave them a very big advantage.

So as the session commenced and with the track still very wet it would be Jaguar's Eddie Irvine who would be first out. Michael Schumacher would take to the track on wet tyres trying to make up for the time lost in the morning session.

McLaren's David Coulthard would spin at Club corner, while Michael Schumacher would set a time good enough for only sixteenth after his first flying lap. Coulthard would finish the session in twelfth. Such were the conditions during the session that it was only of value if we see a wet race. BAR's Olivier Panis would also spin off into the gravel.

WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya would have his engine changed and was ready for the session. In the early stages of the session Michael Schumacher would be 3.2 secs behind Barrichello's best. Michael Schumacher would set a time of 1m:36.7 after fifteen minutes of the session.

The conditions would continue to be very wet and we would see Juan Pablo back out on the track. He would set a time of 1m:37.0. It appeared that the Michelin tyres were performing well in the wet conditions. Montoya would go fifth fastest.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello would set a 1m:35.7 indicating that Bridgestone tyres were also competitive in the conditions. Minardi's Mark Webber would spin across the grass but was able to get back on the track.

Silverstone PitlaneWith twenty minutes of the session gone the track would start to dry a little bit. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen would also set a 1m:35.7. Michael Schumacher would move up to sixth with a 1m:35.4. For Toyota's Mika Salo his problems seemed to be more than just a problem with his car as the team issued a statement saying that Salo would not go out anymore today. It appears that there was some physical problem with Salo as he is was not feeling well.

So with nearly half the session complete the order was Barrichello, Button (1.2), Coulthard (1.7), Raikkonen (1.9), Montoya (1.9), Michael Schumacher (1.9), Irvine, Fisichella, de la Rosa, Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, Sato, Heidfeld, Trulli, Massa, Panis, Webber, McNish, Yoong. Salo, Frentzen, and Bernoldi were all yet to set a time.

Kimi Raikkonen would set a new fastest time for himself with a lap of 1m:34.671, putting him into second. Both Barrichello and Michael Schumacher would take to the track on intermediates. Both drivers would quickly set faster times with a 1m:32.1 for Barrichello, and a 1m:33.4 for Michael. The Ferraris were leading third placed Raikkonen by 2.7 secs. Ralf Schumacher was still down in seventh, a few tenths down on Montoya in fourth.

Michael SchumacherDuring this period of the session we would see Bridgestone teams using intermediates while those supplied by Michelin were still using full wets. There is a big difference between the performance of each tyre companies full wets and intermediates. David Coulthard would have another spin while showing the strength of the Bridgestone tyres Fisichella would move up in to third. Michael Schumacher would then go fastest by 0.044 seconds, while Mark Webber would spin again.

So the top six were Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Fisichella, Montoya, Villeneuve, and Raikkonen. With ten minutes left in the session it would start to rain again. Under the worsening conditions Barrichello would be 2 seconds slower than the earlier time of Michael Schumacher.

Jordan's Takuma Sato was seventh. Michael would seem to find it difficult to match Barrichello. With the end of the session very close Ralf would have a spin leaving the final top six Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Fisichella, Montoya, Sato, and Villeneuve.
 
Driver Team (Tyres) Time Gap Laps

01. R Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:31.457 28
02. M Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:31.881 0.424 22
03. G Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:33.434 1.977 31
04. JP Montoya BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:33.842 2.385 21
05. T Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:33.901 2.444 37
06. J Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:34.373 2.916 36
07. K Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:34.473 3.016 39
08. F Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:34.676 3.219 28
09. J Button Renault (M) 1:34.744 3.287 30
10. N Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:34.752 3.295 28
11. R Schumacher BMW.WilliamsF1 (M) 1:34.766 3.309 28
12. D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:35.170 3.713 29
13. P de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:35.324 3.867 39
14. O Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:35.534 4.077 24
15. E Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:35.682 4.225 26
16. J Trulli Renault (M) 1:36.244 4.787 33
17. M Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:37.835 6.378 29
18. A Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:37.997 6.540 38
19. A McNish Toyota (M) 1:38.477 7.020 30
20. M Salo Toyota (M) no time 1
21. Heinz H. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) no time
22. E Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) no time
 
 
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