 Schumacher Claims Ferrari's 150th Pole - Malaysia Saturday March 16th, 2002 By Will Gray Quadruple World Champion Michael Schumacher remains the only man to have qualified in pole position for a Malaysian Grand Prix after securing his fourth consecutive Sepang leading time in Saturday's qualifying for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix. In hot, humid and overcast conditions, German master Schumacher set a best time of one minute and 35.266 seconds in his Ferrari to finish more than two-tenths of a second clear of Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya, who was second-fastest for Williams-BMW. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello finished third in the second Ferrari ahead of Ralf Schumacher in the second Williams and the McLaren-Mercedes-Benz pair of Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Briton David Coulthard. They were fifth and sixth respectively, both 1.2 seconds slower than Michael Schumacher's fastest time. With nine minutes remaining, the defending champion Schumacher was out of his car and calmly walking around his garage as his Williams and McLaren rivals tried desperately to overhaul his best time, but he returned to the cockpit to confirm his superiority. Local hope Alex Yoong of Malaysia was the first man on the track in his Kuala Lumpur-backed Minardi and his Australian teammate Mark Webber joined him eight minutes later as the crowd waited for the leading drivers to emerge from the pits. Scot Allan McNish suffered problems with his Toyota on his first lap after smoke emerged from the right exhaust and he was forced to switch to the spare car without completing a timed lap. After a slow start, the action ignited with 22 minutes gone when the leading teams completed their initial runs with Raikkonen, Montoya and Ralf Schumacher setting fastest times in quick succession. The Ferrari drivers waited patiently in their respective garages. But the Italian World Champion team did not wait for long and, with half the session completed, Schumacher set the fastest lap in his 2001 car by shaving just over one-tenth of a second from his brother Ralf's previous session-leading time. Barrichello took third place ahead of Montoya. Montoya then hit back with a time almost three-tenths quicker than Schumacher's, while 1997 World Champion Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in his BAR-Honda spun as he continued to struggle and he languished amongst the midfield runners. With 18 minutes remaining, Schumacher regained supremacy with a lap that was more than four-tenths of a second faster than Montoya's best. It was good enough to ensure the 44th pole position of his career and his first of this season. Montoya was fastest in the morning practice session but less than one-tenth of a second separated him from second-placed Raikkonen, with Ralf Schumacher a further four-hundredths of a second behind in third. Barrichello was the quickest of the two Ferraris and finished fourth ahead of Coulthard, who finished in a gravel trap after spinning his McLaren at turn 14 with a third of a session remaining. Michael Schumacher, who had qualified on pole for all three previous Malaysian Grands Prix, finished the final practice session down in sixth place, more than 0.4 seconds slower than Montoya. But, as ever, it was insignificant - merely proof that he was biding his time and preparing for the meaningful action ahead.
Published at 06:03:28 GMT
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