By Greig Murray
April 29 2002

Ferrari will begin the 2002 Australian Grand Prix from 1st and 2nd places. Once again the F2001B proved a class above the rest as Rubens Barrichello took pole position ahead of Michael Schumacher. Rain played a major part in Rubens 4th career pole position.

As usual for the hour long qualifying session all drivers would have 12 laps in total to set their best possible time to determine their starting position on the grid for tomorrow's race. Last season Michael Schumacher took pole position with a lap of 1m 26.89 seconds and he has already better that time in the earlier practice sessions.

The earlier rain had gone for now but the constant threat of a drop of the wet stuff is hanging over the circuit and as the lights went green homeboy Mark Webber in the Minardi was first to leave the pit lane and take the track, he was closely followed by Sato and Fisichella in the Jordan. But trouble for Jordan as Sato stopped on his opening lap leaving the team with only 1 car left running after Sato crashed his race car in practice.

Rubens Barrichello was out for his first run and his first lap of the day sees him set a lap of 1m27.048, which moves him into provisional pole position. Michael Schumacher is also quickly onto the track but with 5 minutes gone the session is stopped as the red flags are out due to an incident between David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve, and to allow the recovery of the stranded Jordan. The rain is now looking more likely to fall and if it does fall then Barrichello has a banker of a lap in the bag already.

10 minutes into the session and Michael Schumacher is back out on track and he puts himself into provisional pole despite not really being fast in the opening two splits Michael put in a great third sector to take provisional pole ahead of brother Ralf in the Williams with a lap of 1m 25.848. But he was not to hold the pole for long as Barrichello moves into the top slot with a new all time fastest lap, 1.25.843 for Barrichello. A little drizzle is now beginning to fall and with about 30 minutes to go the drivers will be hoping it does not become a downpour, but the track is already slippy with the drizzle.

The drizzle turns into a downpour and it now looks that all dry running for the session os over and with no chance of improving times on a wet track Ferrari look certain to have secured the front row with Barrichello gaining the most from a lap at the perfect time. The rain is now really coming down and with time ticking down the grid order is set with some 20 minutes to go. With the teams already having some good running in the wet during Friday then nobody seems to bothered to take to the track on wet tyres.

Finally cars begin to take to the soaking track with Coulthard, Raikkonen and Sato out on track, Michael Schumacher was soon to follow as he takes the chance to learn a little more about this circuit in the wet. And that was about it for a fine session for Ferrari in the opening qualifying session of 2002.

So a Ferrari front row that was already expected after the dominance in practice, but Michael Schumacher must feel that the pole should have been his after being the fastest man all weekend, but he never took his chance and Barrichello did. Barrichello's 4th career pole could not have come at a better time for the Brazilian and will give him a massive boost for the season ahead.

1. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1'25"843
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1'25"848 + 0'00"005
3. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1'26"279 + 0'00"436
4. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1'26"446 + 0'00"603
5. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 1'27"161 + 0'01"318
6. MONTOYA Williams BMW 1'27"249 + 0'01"406
7. TRULLI Renault 1'27"710 + 0'01"867
8. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda 1'27"869 + 0'02"026
9. MASSA Sauber Petronas 1'27"972 + 0'02"129
10. HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1'28"232 + 0'02"389
11. BUTTON Renault 1'28"361 + 0'02"518
12. PANIS BAR Honda 1'28"381 + 0'02"538
13. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1'28"657 + 0'02"814
14. SALO Toyota 1'29"205 + 0'03"362
15. FRENTZEN Arrows Cosworth 1'29"474 + 0'03"631
16. MCNISH Toyota 1'29"636 + 0'03"793
17. BERNOLDI Arrows Cosworth 1'29"738 + 0'03"895
18. WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1'30"086 + 0'04"243
19. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth 1'30"113 + 0'04"270
20. DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth 1'30"192 + 0'04"349
21. YOONG Minardi Asiatech 1'31"504 + 0'05"661
22. SATO Jordan Honda 1'53"351 + 0'27"508