Saturday July 28th, 2001

Michael Schumacher delighted the Hockenheim crowd and delivered what they had been waiting for as he powered to the quickest time in Saturday's first free practice for the German Grand Prix.

German Schumacher set the fastest time just over 20 minutes into the session and continued to better it as the rest of the field tried in vain to keep up with the man who has won just once at his home race.

Schumacher was followed in the times by his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello and brother Ralf Schumacher in a Williams as McLaren duo David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen failed to match their pace.

The session went badly for Hakkinen as the McLaren driver stopped in the pit-lane on two separate attempts to get out on track and needed to be wheeled back to his garage by mechanics.

Jenson Button also suffered an early setback as his Benetton stopped on track, just after the Senna chicane, and he was forced to make his way back to the pits without a lap completed.

Ricardo Zonta, in at Jordan for the sacked Heinz-Harald Frentzen, sat at the top of the time sheets early on, but then also broke down on track 18 minutes into the session, failed to re-appear, and dropped down the order to finish 14th.

Coulthard set the early pace in his McLaren, but he was soon caught and overtaken in the times by Ferrari's Barrichello and Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya.

The Jaguars of Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa were also on the pace again after their impressive displays in Friday practice.

Hakkinen eventually got out on track with 15 minutes of the session remaining but in his first attempt at a flying lap he ran wide at the Agip Kurve, went across gravel and grass, and was forced to pit again with a lap time 10 seconds slower than the leaders.

Hakkinen eventually set a quick time but he was left to settle for sixth in the times and to hope that he and Coulthard, who finished the session fifth, could improve in time for qualifying.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                 
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:39.937  245.855 km/h
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:40.436    +    0.499
 3.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:40.457    +    0.520
 4.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:40.661    +    0.724
 5.  Coulthard     Mclaren Mercedes   (B)  1:40.697    +    0.760
 6.  Hakkinen      Mclaren Mercedes   (B)  1:40.905    +    0.968
 7.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:41.520    +    1.583
 8.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:41.683    +    1.746
 9.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:41.693    +    1.756
10.  Raikkonen     Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:41.833    +    1.896
11.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:41.839    +    1.902
12.  Trulli        Jordan Honda       (B)  1:41.887    +    1.950
13.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:42.417    +    2.480
14.  Zonta         Jordan Honda       (B)  1:42.424    +    2.487
15.  Bernoldi      Arrows Asiatech    (B)  1:42.492    +    2.555
16.  Verstappen    Arrows Asiatech    (B)  1:42.580    +    2.643
17.  Alesi         Prost Acer         (M)  1:42.964    +    3.027
18.  Fisichella    Benetton Renault   (M)  1:43.256    +    3.319
19.  Burti         Prost Acer         (M)  1:43.356    +    3.419
20.  Alonso        Minardi European   (M)  1:44.574    +    4.637
21.  Marques       Minardi European   (M)  1:45.406    +    5.469
22.  Button        Benetton Renault   (M)  no time

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 07:49:30 GMT

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