Saturday August 31st, 2002

By Will Gray

World Champion Michael Schumacher scorched back to the top of the timesheets in Spa on this morning with a lap that set him 0.888 seconds clear of the rest of the field, in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

After finishing third in Friday's practice, the dominant German returned to his usual position at the head of the field with a blistering lap of 1:44.951 seconds as conditions warmed in the Ardennes forest.

Schumacher, who completed just seven laps, finished ahead of his Brazilian Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello, who managed one lap more but could not get close to the lead pace.

The McLaren-Mercedes pair of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard, who had claimed first and second fastest times in Friday's practice, trailed Barrichello in third and fourth respectively.

Raikkonen was 1.402 seconds slower than the leading Ferrari, Coulthard was 1.642 seconds behind and Ralf Schumacher, of Williams-BMW, was fifth, 1.936 seconds off the pace. Those five were the only drivers to finish within two seconds of Schumacher's impressive time.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth for Williams-BMW, with Scot Allan McNish a surprise seventh in the Toyota and Frenchman Olivier Panis eighth in the leading British American Racing Honda.

Jenson Button was ninth for Renault, with Giancarlo Fisichella completing the top ten in his Jordan.

Schumacher, who had topped the times on his first run of the session, improved his earlier best with just seconds of the first practice to go, but it still left Minardi looking fast enough to get into the race.

Australian Mark Webber finished 5.856 seconds off the pace, more than 1.4 seconds slower than new teammate Anthony Davidson, but Schumacher's time left the pair needing to get within only 7.2 seconds of the pace - although he is bound to go faster in qualifying.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:44.951  239.014 km/h   7  
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:45.839    +    0.888   8  
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:46.353    +    1.402   5  
 4.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:46.593    +    1.642  10  
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:46.887    +    1.936  10  
 6.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:47.276    +    2.325  10  
 7.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:47.670    +    2.719  12  
 8.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:47.702    +    2.751  13  
 9.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:47.732    +    2.781  12  
10.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:47.826    +    2.875   8  
11.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:47.896    +    2.945  12  
12.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:48.032    +    3.081  12  
13.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:48.142    +    3.191   9  
14.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:48.413    +    3.462   9  
15.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:48.420    +    3.469   9  
16.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:48.593    +    3.642  11  
17.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:48.760    +    3.809  12  
18.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:48.784    +    3.833  11  
19.  Davidson      Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:49.386    +    4.435  11  
20.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:50.807    +    5.856   6  

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 07:48:40 GMT

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