Saturday April 27th, 2002

The dominance of World Champions Ferrari continued at the Circuit de Catalunya as Brazilian Rubens Barrichello remained on top of the times at the end of the second of the Saturday morning practice sessions, before qualifying for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

The Italian team's rivals failed to beat Barrichello's time but Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld prevented a Ferrari one two by becoming the only man other than Barrichello to set a lap faster than last year's pole time to claim second.

In cooler conditions that seemed to suit the Bridgestone runners, the second Ferrari of Michael Schumacher made a late improvement to claim third and jump above Michelin runners David Coulthard and Jenson Button.

Button has targeted a top-five qualifying spot for Sunday's race, but he was defeated in the 'Battle of Britain' by Coulthard, who finished fourth for McLaren-Mercedes, one place ahead of his countryman.

German Heinz-Harald Frentzen made the most of the cool conditions and set sixth fastest time for Arrows, although he was more than eighth tenths of a second behind timesheet leader Barrichello.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen improved on his first session time but remained in seventh place in the second McLaren-Mercedes, just ahead of the second Sauber car of Brazilian Felipe Massa, who could not quite match the pace of his teammate Heidfeld.

Olivier Panis claimed ninth fastest time for British American Racing, with Enrique Bernoldi rounding out the top ten to set a positive mood in the Arrows garage in preparation for the qualifying session.

Less positive, however, were Jordan-Honda, who witnessed their new hard-driving Japanese driver Takuma Sato make another mistake and spin across the gravel at turn three. Sato, who has developed a reputation for crashing since he arrived in Formula One this year, damaged the nose of the Jordan when he crashed lightly, head-on into the tyre wall. He was also fined $750 for speeding in the pitlane.

Sato's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella brightened the hopes of the team, however, by finishing just outside the top ten in eleventh place, as the Williams-BMWs continued to struggle with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya claiming 12th and 14th respectively.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                  laps
 1.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:18.048  218.173 km/h  17 
 2.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:18.144    +    0.096  22 
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:18.226    +    0.178  17 
 4.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:18.386    +    0.338  17 
 5.  Button        Renault            (M)  1:18.499    +    0.451  17 
 6.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:18.900    +    0.852  21 
 7.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:18.993    +    0.945  20 
 8.  Massa         Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:19.043    +    0.995  16 
 9.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:19.144    +    1.096  23 
10.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:19.266    +    1.218  27 
11.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda       (B)  1:19.319    +    1.271  21 
12.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:19.367    +    1.319  16 
13.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:19.468    +    1.420  27 
14.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:19.574    +    1.526  14 
15.  Sato          Jordan Honda       (B)  1:20.168    +    2.120  25 
16.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:20.198    +    2.150  27 
17.  Trulli        Renault            (M)  1:20.484    +    2.436  24 
18.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:20.799    +    2.751  26 
19.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:20.963    +    2.915  11 
20.  Salo          Toyota             (M)  1:21.133    +    3.085  20 
21.  McNish        Toyota             (M)  1:21.219    +    3.171  14 
22.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:21.700    +    3.652  19 

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 09:03:19 GMT

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