Saturday July 20th, 2002

By Will Gray

Michael Schumacher led a Ferrari one-two in Saturday's opening practice session for the French Grand Prix, as Arrows once again remained in the garage waiting for a solution to their financial problems.

The 2002 Champion-elect prepared for the afternoon qualifying session in perfect style, finishing more than half a second faster than Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.

The German star, who could win a fifth Championship at Magny-Cours this weekend, put in a controlled performance after spinning out and finishing third on Friday, to show he is still in control at a circuit where he has won five times.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen was the best of the rest for McLaren-Mercedes, just more than one tenth of a second behind the second Ferrari, while David Coulthard, who finished fastest on Friday, continued his impressive pace with fourth fastest time.

Young Brazilian Felipe Massa, of Sauber, was fifth, with the Williams-BMW pair of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and German Ralf Schumacher in sixth and seventh places respectively.

Briton Jenson Button was eighth for Renault, with German Nick Heidfeld ninth in the second Sauber and home hope Olivier Panis completing the top ten times as his teammate Canadian Jacques Villeneuve slumped to 15th after clattering over the kerbs.

For Arrows, though, it was another sit-out as boss Tom Walkinshaw frantically tried to sort out a deal to save the team from bankruptcy as shareholding wrangles continue.

He has, however, insisted the cars will run, even if it is just in the qualifying session, but they are sure to be hampered by a lack of running, especially because the conditions have been good for all practice sessions.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:12.974  209.713 km/h   7  
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:13.503    +    0.529   7  
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:13.672    +    0.698   9  
 4.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:14.213    +    1.239   8  
 5.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:14.311    +    1.337  12  
 6.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:14.321    +    1.347  15  
 7.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:14.445    +    1.471  15  
 8.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:14.581    +    1.607  11  
 9.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:14.624    +    1.650  14  
10.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:14.725    +    1.751  12  
11.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:14.949    +    1.975  13  
12.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:15.117    +    2.143  15  
13.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:15.179    +    2.205  17  
14.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:15.208    +    2.234  19  
15.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:15.464    +    2.490  11  
16.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:15.516    +    2.542  13  
17.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:15.650    +    2.676  13  
18.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:15.936    +    2.962  12  
19.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:18.408    +    5.434  21  
20.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  2:03.363    +   50.389   4  

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 07:48:25 GMT

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