Saturday July 27th, 2002

By Will Gray

Newly-crowned World Champion Michael Schumacher continued to delight the packed grandstands at an overcast and rather gloomy Hockenheim circuit, when he scorched to the fastest time of Saturday's first practice session for the German Grand Prix.

German Schumacher, who could score a record-equalling ninth win this season if he takes victory in front of his home crowd in Sunday's race, finished at the head of the third Ferrari one-two in as many practice sessions.

But his efforts on the re-designed circuit were not without error as he pushed his Ferrari to its limits and overstepped them with a half-spin as he exited the final corner towards the end of the session and ran over the kerbs to abort the lap.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was 0.122 seconds behind the Ferrari leader with the Italian team showing their immediate mastery of the new circuit, as third placed Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya failed to get within half a second of Schumacher's time in his Williams-BMW.

Barrichello too had problems in the dying seconds of the session, when he lost control of his Ferrari as he exited the final corner and spun lightly into the wall to leave him walking back to the pits and his car returning on a trailer.

German Ralf Schumacher, in the second Williams-BMW, was fourth fastest, with Briton David Coulthard fifth for McLaren-Merecedes and Brazilian Felipe Massa, of Sauber, completing the top six.

Briton Jenson Button had a heavier spin, hitting the wall after the first corner on the new section of the circuit, while his Renault teammate Jarno Trulli also spun but returned to the pits.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, of Jordan, was seventh, with Olivier Panis eighth for BAR, Nick Heidfeld ninth in the second Sauber, and Japan's Takuma Sato securing the final place in the top ten in the second Jordan.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:15.337  218.570 km/h  12  
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:15.459    +    0.122  15  
 3.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:15.893    +    0.556  14  
 4.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:16.020    +    0.683  13  
 5.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:16.707    +    1.370  12  
 6.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:16.762    +    1.425  14  
 7.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:16.806    +    1.469  14  
 8.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:16.839    +    1.502  19  
 9.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:16.996    +    1.659   6  
10.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:17.094    +    1.757  13  
11.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth   (B)  1:17.258    +    1.921  14  
12.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:17.375    +    2.038  16  
13.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:17.485    +    2.148   7  
14.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:17.764    +    2.427  12  
15.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:17.825    +    2.488  10  
16.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth   (B)  1:17.870    +    2.533  10  
17.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:18.050    +    2.713  10  
18.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:18.092    +    2.755  16  
19.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:18.112    +    2.775  16  
20.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:18.156    +    2.819  14  
21.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:18.871    +    3.534  17  
22.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:20.314    +    4.977  17  

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 07:48:41 GMT

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