Friday April 12th, 2002

By Will Gray

Ferrari showed they were the masters of a rain-soaked Imola on Friday when German Michael Schumacher and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello claimed the fastest times in Friday practice for Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

World Champion Schumacher improved on his effort in the morning practice to set the fastest time of the day but an uncharacteristic mistake left him walking back to his Italian team's garage.

Schumacher lost control of the back end of his Ferrari as he exited the Variante Alta with three quarters of the session gone and spun several times before coming to a halt on the grass.

The World Champion carefully controlled the car and returned to the track but it stalled as he recovered and he was forced to abandon it at the side of the circuit.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was third fastest for Jordan-Honda, but he was more than one second slower than the two closely-matched Ferraris as 11 of the 22 drivers struggled with the conditions and had various incidents around the circuit.

McLaren-Mercedes star David Coulthard finished fourth fastest, just ahead of his new Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen, with the Arrows of German Heinz-Harald Frentzen completing the top six positions.

Italian Jarno Trulli was seventh fastest in his Renault, but he missed half the session after losing control of his R202 at the Variante Bassa and taking off his front wing when he crashed into the wall.

Brazilian Felipe Massa finished eighth fastest for Sauber, one place ahead of the Williams-BMW pairing of Juan Pablo Montoya in ninth and Ralf Schumacher in tenth, both of whom spun as they chased a top ten position.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                 
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:36.898  183.273 km/h
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:37.094    +    0.196
 3.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda       (B)  1:38.093    +    1.195
 4.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:38.747    +    1.849
 5.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:38.773    +    1.875
 6.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:39.158    +    2.260
 7.  Trulli        Renault            (M)  1:39.204    +    2.306
 8.  Massa         Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:39.253    +    2.355
 9.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:39.480    +    2.582
10.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:39.518    +    2.620
11.  Sato          Jordan Honda       (B)  1:39.764    +    2.866
12.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:39.971    +    3.073
13.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:40.551    +    3.653
14.  Button        Renault            (M)  1:40.601    +    3.703
15.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:40.787    +    3.889
16.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:40.809    +    3.911
17.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:41.565    +    4.667
18.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:41.730    +    4.832
19.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:41.969    +    5.071
20.  Salo          Toyota             (M)  1:42.261    +    5.363
21.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:43.986    +    7.088
22.  McNish        Toyota             (M)  1:43.986    +    7.088

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 12:02:13 GMT

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