Friday April 26th, 2002
By Will Gray
Ferrari continued the dominant form they showed in the last race at Imola by taking another one-two finish in Friday's opening practice session for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
As temperatures rose to 22 degrees Celsius in the warming sun at the Barcelona track, German World Champion Michael Schumacher was the fastest man on the circuit, just 0.061 seconds ahead of his Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.
The pair were closely matched and they showed the pace of the Italian team's new F2002 car again by finishing more than half a second faster than closest rival, Brazilian Felipe Massa, in a Ferrari-powered Sauber.
Massa, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Thursday, was one tenth of a second faster than the man he replaced at the Swiss team, Finn Kimi Raikkonen, in the McLaren-Mercedes. Jarno Trulli was fifth for Renault, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen sixth in the Arrows despite a brief spin half-way through the session.
The second McLaren of David Coulthard was seventh, more than one second slower than Schumacher's lead Ferrari, with German Nick Heidfeld eighth in the second Sauber.
The session started badly for the troubled Jordan team when the car of their Japanese driver Takuma Sato ground to a halt a few metres from the pit exit just 30 seconds after the green light.
But Italian Giancarlo Fisichella put a smile back on their faces by the end of the session with a pleasing ninth-place finish, one place ahead of Arrows' Enrique Bernoldi.
Pos Driver Team Times
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:20.681 211.053 km/h
2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:20.742 + 0.061
3. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:21.364 + 0.683
4. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:21.472 + 0.791
5. Trulli Renault (M) 1:21.631 + 0.950
6. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:21.640 + 0.959
7. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:21.861 + 1.180
8. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:21.950 + 1.269
9. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:21.981 + 1.300
10. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:22.126 + 1.445
11. Button Renault (M) 1:22.180 + 1.499
12. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:22.223 + 1.542
13. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:22.277 + 1.596
14. Salo Toyota (M) 1:22.289 + 1.608
15. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:22.370 + 1.689
16. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:22.430 + 1.749
17. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:22.645 + 1.964
18. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:22.893 + 2.212
19. McNish Toyota (M) 1:23.051 + 2.370
20. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:23.480 + 2.799
21. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:24.598 + 3.917
22. Sato Jordan Honda (B) no time
All Timing Unofficial
Published at 10:02:17 GMT