Saturday March 30th, 2002
By Will Gray
German Ralf Schumacher topped the times ahead of Briton David Coulthard in Saturday's final practice session before qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Late laps from Schumacher, in a Williams, and Coulthard, in a McLaren, put the pair ahead of Renault pair Jenson Button, third, and Jarno Trulli, fourth, who had earlier shocked the Formula One paddock by going fastest.
With temperatures rising towards 30 degrees at the Interlagos circuit, the Michelin tyres came into their own as World Champion Schumacher failed to show the expected form of the new Ferrari and finished fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second McLaren and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, of Williams, who was seventh.
Home hero Rubens Barrichello, in the second Ferrari, managed only eighth position ahead of Finn Mika Salo, who made it into the top ten for Toyota, with a ninth fastest lap time as his Scottish team-mate Allan McNish, who finished third on Friday, was way down in 19th place.
Takuma Sato's weekend to forget continued when he crashed his Jordan lightly into a wall at turn eight and lost the rest of the session after damaging his front wing.
Nick Heidfeld completed the top ten in a session which was red-flagged with four minutes to go after Felipe Massa's Sauber was left stranded out on the race-track, but the re-start allowed Schumacher and Coulthard to post their times.
Pos Driver Team Times
1. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:13.543 210.930 km/h
2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:13.563 + 0.020
3. Button Renault (M) 1:13.686 + 0.143
4. Trulli Renault (M) 1:13.714 + 0.171
5. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:13.837 + 0.294
6. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:13.882 + 0.339
7. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:14.141 + 0.598
8. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:14.189 + 0.646
9. Salo Toyota (M) 1:14.484 + 0.941
10. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.508 + 0.965
11. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:15.131 + 1.588
12. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:15.246 + 1.703
13. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:15.270 + 1.727
14. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:15.298 + 1.755
15. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:15.305 + 1.762
16. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:15.415 + 1.872
17. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:15.534 + 1.991
18. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:15.641 + 2.098
19. McNish Toyota (M) 1:15.892 + 2.349
20. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:15.933 + 2.390
21. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:16.294 + 2.751
22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:16.727 + 3.184
All Timing Unofficial
Published at 14:07:35 GMT