By pitpass.com (18/07/2003)
July 18 2003

It's dry but seriously overcast at Silverstone for the first free practice session for the 2003 British Grand Prix. Renault stars Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli dominated the two hour testing session, leading many to believe that the 'new' R23B could be the car to watch this weekend. Jaguar's Webber was also on form as was Renault tester Allan McNish.

Antonio Pizzonia was fifth quickest, 1.2s off the pace, ahead of the Jordans and Minardis. All in all another Michelin walkover.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen is first out for the one hour session followed by Ralf Schumacher, da Matta, Button, Montoya, Raikkonen, Villeneuve, Heidfeld and Panis.

Ralf posts the first time of the session, the German crossing the line at 1:21.675, only marginally slower than Alonso's fastest lap this morning. Seconds later Olivier Panis goes quickest with a 1:21.435.

Michael Schumacher is keen to prove that Ferrari means business this weekend and posts a 1:21.958, to go third, with his first run while moments later team-mate Rubens Barrichello goes second fastest with a 1:21.552.

Coulthard posts 1:22.111 to go fifth ahead of Montoya, Button and Raikkonen. Ten minutes into the session Jarno Trulli is the first of the Renault driver to appear, he immediately goes third quickest with a 1:21.591.

Alonso comes out and immediately posts the quickest time in the first sector, then again in the second. Over the line the Spaniard posts 1:20.625, that's 0.810s quicker than Panis and only 1.5s off last year's pole time.

Fifteen minutes into the session and it's Alonso ahead of Panis followed by Barrichello, Trulli, Ralf, Michael, Coulthard, Montoya, Button and da Matta. Raikkonen is currently eleventh ahead of Firman, Heidfeld and Villeneuve. Neither of the Jordan or Minardi drivers have gone out yet, while Webber too has yet to post a time - no doubt he's waiting to do one of his last minute specials. Frentzen too has yet to post a time.

With his first lap of the day Fisichella goes twelfth, the Italian was extremely angry in France the other week and made it clear that he is not in F1 to battle with the Minardis, which ironically is where his F1 career began.

Raikkonen goes fifth with a 1:21.672, though he's still a second off Alonso's pace. Next time around the Finn improves to go fifth, while Alonso raises the benchmark by posting a 1:20.571.

Verstappen goes thirteenth with his first timed lap, pretty impressive when you consider that he's leap-frogged Firman, Heidfeld and Villeneuve.

Elsewhere Mark Webber finally posts a time and it's good enough for tenth, though moments later he's demoted by Ralph Firman.

Halfway through the session and Alonso is quickest ahead of Panis, Barrichello, Trulli, Raikkonen, Ralf, Michael, Coulthard, Firman and Webber. Frentzen and Wilson have yet to post a time. That said, the German posts 1:23.729 to go nineteenth. Heinz-Harald has bad memories of Silverstone - in 2001 it was after this race that he was mysteriously fired by Jordan while a year later it was at Silverstone when the Arrows saga began in earnest.

1:21.077 see Coulthard go second, the Scot really needs a result this weekend. Fellow Brit Justin Wilson finally sets a time, albeit 3.578s off the pace.

Ralf goes third with a 1:21.410 as brother Michael posts the fastest time of the day in the first sector though sloppy second and third sectors see the German fail to improve, unlike Barrichello who goes second with a 1:20.604.

Next time around the German posts another best of day in sector one, though this is almost instantly eclipsed by Olivier Panis. Michael goes fourth with a 1:21.387 while Panis posts a 1:20.786 to tighten his grip on third.

Another best of day in sector one for Schumacher, the German hasn't given up. He improves his time but is demoted to sixth as Trulli posts a 1:20.858 to go fourth.

Outside the top ten Jenson button and Antonio Pizzonia appear to be on good laps, the Englishman posting best time of the day in the final sector to go fifth, a great effort.

What's Jenson had for breakfast.. next time around he posts fastest time of the day in sector one? His second and third sectors are off the pace but it's still an impressive performance. Could this be the 'Our Nige' factor, is the partisan crowd giving him a boost?

Just under fifteen minutes remaining and Alonso is still quickest ahead of Barrichello, Panis, Trulli, Button, Coulthard, da Matta, Michael, Raikkonen and Ralf. Montoya is eleventh ahead of Villeneuve, Firman, Webber, Pizzonia, Frentzen, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Verstappen and Wilson.

Schumacher improves with a 1:20.992 to go sixth right behind Button as his brother Ralf also improves but can only manage eighth.

Problems for Barrichello as the Brazilian stops on track in the first sector, meanwhile Jenson Button improves but stays fifth. Ominously for the opposition Alonso also improves and raises the benchmark to 1:20.485.

1:20.966 sees Antonio Pizzonia leapfrog Michael Schumacher.

In the dying moments Coulthard posts the best time of the day in sector two and again in sector three to go quickest with a 1:20.039, a superb lap from the Scot.

Mark Webber's up to his usual tricks.. the Australian posts a 1:20.346 to go second, a tremendous effort from the Jaguar driver.

Villeneuve and Frentzen improve slightly but they're both well off the pace.

The session ends with Coulthard quickest ahead of Webber, Alonso, Barrichello, Panis, Trulli, Button, Pizzonia, Michael and da Matta.

Interesting to see the pace of the Renaults while Coulthard's lap was outstanding, as was Webber's. Again the Michelins clearly have the edge though the weather conditions are certainly going to come into play here.

Barrichello was going well into he had technical problems while Button and Pizzonia were both impressive.

Don't read too much into Schumacher's lowly position, he wasn't posting best times of the day in sector one and then backing off for fun, we think he's definitely got a trick up his sleeve.

Finally are we really to believe that eleventh and twelfth is the best that WilliamsF1 can do, we think not.

We have a feeling that this is going to be a long drawn-out weekend and that strategy is going to be the name of the game, and as we watch the dark clouds in the distance we have a feeling that this weekend's race could be something special.


This article was written by pitpass.com and is used with permission.