 Friday Second Free Practice - British GP Friday July 5th, 2002 By Will Gray Brazilian Rubens Barrichello held the ascendancy at a cloud-covered Silverstone circuit on Friday as he mastered the slippery conditions to outpace his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher by nearly half a second in Friday's second practice session for the British Grand Prix. Schumacher, who spun off early in the morning session and was left watching from a deck chair, kept control of his dominant Ferrari to put it second behind Barrichello and complete Ferrari's perfect preparation for Saturday's qualifying session. The track dried up after heavy midday rain and as the Orange Arrows team sat red-faced in their garage waiting for bills to be paid to allow them to fire up their engines, the march of the scarlet Scuderia continued with a one-two finish. Behind the Ferrari pair, it was delight for the Silverstone-based Jordan team, many of whose staff will have been present in the grandstands having nipped across from the factory for a lunch break. The team's Italian driver, Giancarlo Fisichella, claimed third, but he was almost two seconds slower than the lead Ferrari, which was left practising pit-stops at the end of the session as the dominant team worked on perfecting their performance for the race. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest for Williams-BMW with Japan's Takuma Sato putting more smiles on the Jordan faces with fifth fastest time after a late run. Canadian Jacques Villeneuve's British American Racing Honda finished in sixth place, one ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren-Mercedes as several drivers were caught out by the slippery conditions. Rookies Brazilian Felipe Massa, of Sauber, and Australian Minardi driver Mark Webber, both suffering two off track excursions, but Massa still managed eighth fastest time of the day, with teammate Nick Heidfeld claiming the final place in the top ten, one place behind leading Briton Jenson Button's Renault. McLaren's David Coulthard spun early on and was left way down the order in 12th place as the Scots struggled to perform, with compatriot Allan McNish in 19th place for Toyota. Ulsterman Eddie Irvine also had a difficult time and was 15th in the modified Jaguar. Meanwhile, in the motorhomes, Arrows team boss Tom Walkinshaw was engrossed in talks with top Cosworth bosses over the money his team owe to the engine manufacturers. His drivers, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi, were left to wander around the paddock as their rivals made important set-up changes. The pair will hope that the financial problems are solved in time for Saturday's qualifying.
Published at 13:02:33 GMT
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