Saturday July 20th, 2002
By Will Gray
World Champion Michael Schumacher topped the times in Saturday's final practice for the French Grand Prix, after the session was interrupted by a high-speed crash involving Jordan driver Giancarlo Fisichella.
Italian driver Fisichella lost control of his Honda-powered machine when the front wing collapsed as he went over the kerbs on the exit of the Estoril corner. He crashed heavily and the session was stopped immediately as the tyre barriers were repaired and Fisichella was taken to the medical centre and then to Nevers hospital for a check-up.
When the session resumed, Ferrari's Schumacher pushed hard to make an improvement but spun for the second time this weekend - this time at the Adelaide hairpin - and then narrowly avoided the passing cars as he returned to the track and headed back to the garage.
German Schumacher finished just 0.021 seconds ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of Michelin-shod McLaren-Mercedes, as the increasing temperatures began to bring the teams on French rubber into their element.
Scot David Coulthard was third fastest, a quarter of a second behind his teammate Raikkonen, with Rubens Barrichello finishing fourth in the second Ferrari, more than half a second slower than teammate Schumacher.
Briton Jenson Button, whose future with Renault will be revealed after qualifying, posted the fifth fastest time of the day. He finished ahead of the Williams-BMW pairing of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and German Ralf Schumacher, who finished sixth and seventh, while Ulsterman Eddie Irvine continued his presence in the top ten with eighth fastest time. German Nick Heidfeld, of Sauber, and Italian Jarno Trulli, of Renault, completed the top ten.
Arrows finally made it out of their garages ten minutes before the end of the practice session, after sitting out all of the previous sessions as the team continued talks in a bid to allow new funding to be invested into the team.
After spending most of the morning out of their overalls, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi both failed to set a time, as they immediately returned to the garage after an installation run.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:12.974 209.713 km/h 19
2. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:12.995 + 0.021 24
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:13.249 + 0.275 21
4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:13.503 + 0.529 21
5. Button Renault (M) 1:13.553 + 0.579 30
6. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:13.633 + 0.659 32
7. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:13.728 + 0.754 32
8. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:14.018 + 1.044 24
9. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.108 + 1.134 28
10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:14.161 + 1.187 36
11. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.211 + 1.237 24
12. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:14.211 + 1.237 33
13. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:14.503 + 1.529 34
14. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:14.557 + 1.583 21
15. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:14.949 + 1.975 19
16. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:15.036 + 2.062 26
17. Salo Toyota (M) 1:15.516 + 2.542 27
18. McNish Toyota (M) 1:15.650 + 2.676 28
19. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:15.797 + 2.823 21
20. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:17.207 + 4.233 42
All Timing Unofficial
Published at 09:28:57 GMT