27/08/2004
NEWS STORY
Temperatures have increased for the second of today's free practice sessions, but only marginally. The air temperature has risen to 18 degrees C, while the track temperature is up to 23 degrees.
Zsolt Baumgartner is first back on track, closely followed by Glock, Fisichella, Leinders, Panis, Wirdheim, Briscoe, Pantano, Massa and Zonta.
Within minutes of the session getting underway, Fisichella posts the benchmark, 1:48.379, however moments later Briscoe crosses the line at 1:47.634.
Five minutes of the sixty-minute session gone, and already ten drivers have posted times. Briscoe is quickest, ahead of Fisichella, Massa, Wirdheim, Zonta, Glock, Pantano, Heidfeld and Panis.
Coulthard goes quickest in the first sector as Alonso goes fourth quickest, only for Massa to raise the benchmark even higher with a 1:47.614. Elsewhere, Coulthard goes fifth with a 1:49.631.
A 1:47.245 sees Kimi Raikkonen go quickest, as Davidson goes fastest of all in the first and second sectors. The BAR tester crosses the line at 1:46.079, beating Raikkonen's time by 1.16s, meanwhile, Coulthard joins his McLaren teammate on track.
Barrichello goes fifth and Sato seventh as Michael Schumacher finally makes an appearance. Juan Pablo Montoya goes eleventh as his teammate waits in his garage, as do Webber and Klien.
With only four cars on track, Schumacher goes sixth, crossing the line at 1:48.290.
Suddenly, Briscoe crashes as he approaches Eau Rouge. It's a big crash but the Australian is fine, he climbs out of his car and waves to the crowd. However, the session is red-flagged as the marshals clear up the wreckage.
Eight minutes later the session resumes.
Briscoe left the racing line very early, which seems to suggest a technical problem, or (more likely) a puncture.
Almost immediately, Wirdheim improves to seventh, right behind Schumacher, but remains over 2s off the pace.
Pizzonia begins his first flying lap of the session, and immediately goes quickest in the first sector. He loses a little ground in the second sector, as Giancarlo Fisichella goes second with a 1:46.650. Pizzonia slots in behind the Italian, the FW26 crossing the line at 1:46.793.
Moments before the midway point, the BARs go first and second, Takuma Sato posting 1:45.451, outpacing Button by 0.549. Meanwhile, Alonso goes third, only marginally slower than Button. Meanwhile, the Ferraris are languishing in twelfth (Schumacher) and thirteenth (Barrichello) - though we don't expect them to remain there.
Montoya goes quickest in the first sector, but loses a little ground in the second. Nonetheless he crosses the line at 1:45.842, to split the two BARs. Barrichello goes twelfth, as Coulthard comes out - the Scot has yet to post a time, as has Webber.
The Scot goes second quickest, crossing the line at 1:45.822, moments later his Finnish teammate goes straight to the top of the timesheets with a 1:44.701.
With just over twenty minutes remaining, Schumacher goes third, behind Raikkonen and Sato. The Ferrari star needs to find at least 0.769s if he is to knock Kimi off the top spot.
Anthony Davidson hasn't finished however, the BAR tester goes second, pushing Schumacher back down to fourth. In his efforts to take his place at the top of the timesheets, Schumacher spins at Stavelot, however he's able to continue.
Jenson Button goes second with a 1:45.015, as Pizzonia goes sixth with a 1:45.559.
Davidson and Wirdheim have done the most laps (19), while Trulli has done 18. The Italian can only manage thirteenth quickest, 2.211s off the pace.
Michael Schumacher begins another 'hot' lap, as Coulthard consolidates sixth position with a 1:45.507. The German's lap is nothing special, yet it's good enough to put him third, 0.436s off Raikkonen's time. Elsewhere, Baumgartner goes twentieth, ahead of all three Jordans and the other two Minardis. Great stuff!
Barrichello, Panis and Montoya all improve, but remain in their (relatively) lowly positions. Massa goes eleventh, and Wirdheim seventeenth.
The session ends with Raikkonen quickest, ahead of Button, Schumacher, Davidson, Sato, Coulthard, Pizzonia, Barrichello, Alonso and Montoya. Felipe Massa is eleventh quickest, ahead of Fisichella, Webber, Panis, Zonta, Trulli, Wirdheim, Klien, Briscoe, Baumgartner, Heidfeld, Glock, Pantano, Leinders and Bruni.
Again, not the most scintillating of sessions, but it's early days and no doubt the notorious Spa weather will play its part as the weekend progresses.