ATLAS F1 News: Friday Second Free Practice

Friday Second Free Practice - French GP

Friday July 19th, 2002

By Will Gray

Briton David Coulthard led a McLaren-Mercedes one-two in Friday's second practice for the French Grand Prix as sweltering temperatures provided perfect conditions for teams on Michelin tyres.

Coulthard, who had a disastrous time in the damp and cold conditions at Silverstone in the last race, topped the times as the sun beat down on Magny-Cours with a 1:14.025 lap which left him just 0.072 seconds in front of Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Reigning champion Michael Schumacher, who could win his fifth world title in France on Sunday, was third fastest for Ferrari and spun in the final chicane as he tried to push for the top spot in the dying minutes of the session.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello claimed fourth place, but he was more than half a second behind his German teammate, with Ralf Schumacher ignoring an earlier spin to push his Michelin-shod Williams-BMW into fifth place one tenth further back.

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine continued what looks to be a promising performance from the Jaguar team by putting his newly-modified R3 car into sixth place, within one second of Coulthard's leading time.

Finn Mika Salo was seventh for Toyota despite a blown engine towards the end of the session, while Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, in the second Jaguar, Briton Jenson Button, in the leading Renault, and Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya, in the second Williams-BMW, completed the top ten.

Montoya had spent some time in the garage during the session after spinning off at the Estoril curve and damaging his Williams-BMW as he rattled over the gravel trap, and failed to improve on a late run.

Ferrari remained the only Bridgestone-shod team to climb inside the top ten positions in the 25-degree heat, with Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan the next best runner from the Japanese company's camp in 12th position.

Arrows, meanwhile, were left in the garages once again as disputes between team owner Tom Walkinshaw and shareholders Morgan Grenfell continued to prevent their participation in the event.

The team's cars have been scrutineered to participate in the event, however, and should make an appearance to take part in the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon at the latest.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:14.025  206.736 km/h  37  
 2.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:14.097    +    0.072  39  
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:14.240    +    0.215  50  
 4.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:14.750    +    0.725  40  
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:14.970    +    0.945  37  
 6.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:14.983    +    0.958  39  
 7.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:15.161    +    1.136  28  
 8.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:15.179    +    1.154  45  
 9.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:15.218    +    1.193  41  
10.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:15.271    +    1.246  35  
11.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:15.411    +    1.386  43  
12.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:15.422    +    1.397  36  
13.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:16.030    +    2.005  50  
14.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:16.163    +    2.138  42  
15.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:16.167    +    2.142  46  
16.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:16.209    +    2.184  45  
17.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:16.457    +    2.432  35  
18.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:16.496    +    2.471  37  
19.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:16.763    +    2.738  18  
20.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:19.015    +    4.990  43 

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 12:01:51 GMT

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