02/07/2004
NEWS STORY
As ever, there will be 25 drivers in action this morning, the usual twenty racers augmented by the 'third drivers' of BAR, Toyota, Jaguar, Jordan and Minardi.
Also, following his crash at Indianapolis, and the injuries sustained, Ralf Schumacher is replaced by Marc Gene this weekend, though no announcement has been made as to who will replace the German at Silverstone next week.
As the cars prepare for the one-hour session, the air temperature is 20 degrees C, while the track temperature is 30 degrees.
The lights go green, and first out is Timo Glock, who is followed by Baumgartner, Heidfeld, Davidson, Pantano, Wirdheim, da Matta, Leinders, Massa and Panis.
Just five minutes into the session, Michael Schumacher comes out, much earlier than usual on a Friday, and immediately posts the first time of the session, a 1:16.291. That's around 1.2s off lat yea's pole time.
Next time around he posts a 1:15.713, after only two laps he's 0.7s off the 2003 pole. Is he trying to reinforce the point he made yesterday regarding rising speeds?
The Ferrari driver returns to his garage, the benchmark set, the gauntlet thrown down, the point made.
Ten minutes into the session and Timo Glock is back on track, will he be the second driver to post a time, or will it be Rubens Barrichello who is also on track?
Glock posts a 1:21.214 as the Brazilian posts 1:16.327 to go second to his Ferrari teammate.
Next time around Rubens goes even quicker, leapfrogging his teammate with a 1:15.487, meanwhile Gene goes third ahead of Glock, Pantano, Heidfeld, Bruni and Leinders.
At this point a few drops of rain begin to appear on the track, is this why the Ferraris were so eager to get out?
The rain begins to fall a little harder, and as a result everyone returns to their garage.
With nineteen minutes of the session done, Barrichello is quickest ahead of Michael, with Gene third - 3.861s off the pace - ahead of Glock, Pantano, Heidfeld, Bruni and Leinders.
Twenty-four minutes into the session, and clearly tired with the lack of action, Heidfeld and Wirdheim venture out.
The German and the Swede are joined by Gene, Baumgartner, Davidson, Zonta and Juan Pablo Montoya.
As the rain falls harder, race control announces that 'heavy rain tyres' are permitted.
As the conditions worsen, Zonta can only manage a 1:21.965, Davidson a 1:25.336, while Montoya crashes heavily. It looks as though he made a mistake under braking. He goes off, skims over the gravel, the car almost flipping. The FW26 is totally destroyed but the Colombian is fine.
With thirty-six minutes of the session gone, the rain stops, and almost immediately Zonta improves, though only slightly, the track is still very damp. Meanwhile, the temperature have fallen to 19 degrees (ambient), and 24 (track).
Sato posts 1:34.438, thus far, only thirteen, of the twenty-five, drivers have posted times.
With sixteen minutes remaining, Jarno Trulli comes out, however the Renault star can only manage 1:39.392 with his first lap. Elsewhere, Davidson has improved to 1:30.083.
Those Ferrari weathermen certainly know they're stuff, or does the Maranello outfit have contacts at an even higher level?
Only Glock, Pantano, Davidson, Sato and Zonta are on track, when Jenson Button opts to join them. Alonso is also on track.
Conditions are improving - a little - Button posts 1:30.760, to go eleventh, right behind his teammate. Elsewhere Zonta improves with a 1:29.098.
Alonso returns to his garage, having failed to post a time, as Klien posts 1:31.835.
Button improves with a 1:28.317, as Panis and da Matta come out to play.
Wirdheim and Baumgartner both improve, though both are over 14s off the pace, interestingly, the Hungarian looks good in the wet and is giving the Jaguar driver a run for his money.
Remember last year when Verstappen was quickest in the Friday qualifying session here?
Panis posts 1:27.449, to go quickest of the 'wet runners', teammate da Matta posts 1:28.896.
At this point, with five minutes remaining, other than Montoya, Massa, Alonso, Fisichella, Coulthard, Raikkonen and Webber have yet to post a time.
Clearly conditions are improving, da Matta posts 1:26.757.
In the final moments, only Glock, Leinders and Davidson are on track, the rest appear to have given up, on this session at least.
That said, Davidson improves with a 1:26.552, to go quickest of the 'wet runners'.
The session ends with Barrichello quickest, ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher, who is followed by Gene, Glock, Pantano, Heidfeld, Bruni, Leinders, Davidson and da Matta.
Panis is eleventh quickest, ahead of Button, Zonta, Klien, Baumgartner, Sato, Wirdheim and Trulli.