ATLAS F1 News: Saturday Second Free Practice

Saturday Second Free Practice - Brazilian GP

Saturday April 5th, 2003

By Gary Emmerson

Frenchman Olivier Panis surprisingly took top spot for Toyota in Saturday's final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Panis posted the best laptime of 1:13.457 late in the session as the Sao Paulo heat continued to improve the track conditions, denying World Champion Michael Schumacher top spot. Ferrari driver Schumacher was second quickest, almost nine-hundredths behind Panis, while Renault's Jarno Trulli claimed the third fastest time at Interlagos.

David Coulthard moved up to fourth in his McLaren after setting his best time late in the session, with Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya fifth and Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren, sixth. Rubens Barrichello, quickest in the first session, could only go seventh fastest after marginally improving his time, while Mark Webber, of Jaguar, Williams-BMW's Ralf Schumacher and Renault driver Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

Ralf Schumacher was involved in the first incident of the session after 10 minutes of running when he spun at turn 7 but was able to continue and return to the pits. Raikkonen then moved to top spot as he bettered Barrichello's time from the opening session by more than a tenth of a second. Michael Schumacher then lowered the mark along with Renault's Trulli.

Cristiano da Matta, competing at Interlagos for the first time since 1994, suffered a spin at turn 1 and was unable to keep his car on track as his session ended. Ralf Schumacher made the same mistake at turn 7 as he lost the back end of his Williams-BMW, but again got away with the error as he continued his lap in the final 10 minutes of the session.

Toyota's Panis then moved to the top of the times in the closing stages with a time nine hundredths quicker than Michael Schumacher. Jaguar driver Mark Webber, who went quickest in Friday qualifying, was then caught out at turn 7 as he was sent into a spin, and Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen went off track at turn 10 in the final seconds.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  Panis         Toyota            (M)  1:13.457  211.177 km/h  36  
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:13.546    +    0.089  32  
 3.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:13.621    +    0.164  30  
 4.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:13.893    +    0.436  33  
 5.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:13.929    +    0.472  34  
 6.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:13.946    +    0.489  31  
 7.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:13.993    +    0.536  34  
 8.  Webber        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:14.102    +    0.645  42  
 9.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:14.192    +    0.735  35  
10.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:14.209    +    0.752  41  
11.  Fisichella    Jordan Ford       (B)  1:14.224    +    0.767  33  
12.  Button        BAR Honda         (B)  1:14.464    +    1.007  44  
13.  Pizzonia      Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:14.511    +    1.054  42  
14.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:14.523    +    1.066  43  
15.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:14.744    +    1.287  35  
16.  da Matta      Toyota            (M)  1:14.819    +    1.362  37  
17.  Frentzen      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:14.921    +    1.464  36  
18.  Firman        Jordan Ford       (B)  1:15.475    +    2.018  31  
19.  Verstappen    Minardi Cosworth  (B)  1:15.610    +    2.153  33  
20.  Wilson        Minardi Cosworth  (B)  1:16.067    +    2.610  25  

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 14:03:42 GMT

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