Friday July 26th, 2002

By Will Gray

Rubens Barrichello led a Ferrari one-two as the drivers got to grips with the new Hockenheim circuit in Friday's opening practice for this weekend's German Grand Prix.

The Brazilian set a time of 1:16.248 as predicted top times of 1:18.2 were almost immediately exceeded on the heavily-modified track.

Newly-crowned World Champion Michael Schumacher, who won his fifth Championship in the last race in France and will equal the record number of victories in a season if he wins here on Sunday, finished just 0.075 seconds behind Barrichello.

All teams arrived relying heavily on their computer predictions for set-up and with a lead of more than 1.2 seconds on closest rival Olivier Panis in the British American Racing Honda, Barrichello and Schumacher proved Ferrari had 'guessed' the best.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who nearly won in France five days ago, was fourth for McLaren-Mercedes, with German Nick Heidfeld was fifth for Sauber and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya completing the top six in his Williams-BMW, more than 1.8 seconds off the leaders' pace.

Montoya was the first man to spin on the new circuit, losing control on the first corner of the new section and Schumacher was also another to spin as the drivers explored their limits for the first time on a 'new' track since Malaysia was introduced in 1999.

In cool conditions which barely rose above 20 degrees Celsius, Brazilian Felipe Massa was seventh fastest, with Japan's Takuma Sato eighth, one place ahead of Jordan teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, who has fully recovered from his accident in practice for the French Grand Prix six days ago.

Both Arrows cars completed a full Friday practice session for the first time since they were last in Germany, for the European Grand Prix, three races ago, with both cars completing 20 laps each.

German Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished 10th with Enrique Bernoldi 16th, but the Brazilian parked his car at the side of the track right at the end to pile more concerns on the cash-strapped team as they prepare to return to racing after missing the French Grand Prix.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:16.248  215.958 km/h  20  
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:16.323    +    0.075  19  
 3.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:17.482    +    1.234  31  
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:17.564    +    1.316  18  
 5.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:17.883    +    1.635  25  
 6.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:18.054    +    1.806  20  
 7.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:18.269    +    2.021  24  
 8.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:18.311    +    2.063  20  
 9.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:18.405    +    2.157  13  
10.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth   (B)  1:18.539    +    2.291  20  
11.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:18.587    +    2.339  20  
12.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:18.620    +    2.372  22  
13.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:18.658    +    2.410  22  
14.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:18.929    +    2.681  21  
15.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:19.026    +    2.778  19  
16.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth   (B)  1:19.139    +    2.891  20  
17.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:19.178    +    2.930  21  
18.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:19.249    +    3.001  17  
19.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:19.425    +    3.177   6  
20.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:19.909    +    3.661   9  
21.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:20.045    +    3.797  19  
22.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:20.164    +    3.916  26

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 10:02:50 GMT

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