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2001 Australian
Grand Prix Warm-up Session |
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Drivers Championship
Constructors
Championship Warm-up Session Report - ResultsThe two McLarens were fastest in this morning's warm-up. David Coulthard set the fastest time of the session of 1:30.099 with Mika Hakkinen .053 seconds slower at 1:30.152. Verstappen, Montoya and Panis rounded out the top five. Rain started during the first 10 minutes of the session, forcing hasty tyre changes, but stopped soon after. Although the track was damp for a short while it quickly dried off and was virtually dry by the end of the session, but not before a large number of cars slid wide and were seen scooting along on the lawns of Albert Park. Fortunately none seemed damaged. Michael Schumacher was only 6th fastest and his teammate Barrichello was in ninth. Schumacher seemed satisfied with his performance and did not come out again to improve his times so it is very hard to read anything into his stint this morning. In all probability he felt that there was little to gain by going faster and treated it as a final shake down. Barrichello was also spending long times in the pits and not that much on the track. Tempo in the Ferrari pit seemed relaxed so it was probably planned that way. Verstappen was surprisingly fast in the Arrows, 10 positions and almost two seconds faster than teammate Bernoldi and Montoya was more than 2 seconds faster than Ralf Schumacher in the other Williams. Panis was in the fastest Honda powered car this morning posting the 5th fastest time in the BAR. Villeneuve was considerably slower in 14th. Like all warm-up sessions it is very hard to read anything into the individual performances. Most teams are checking last minute set up and the drivers are careful not to damage their cars. Now it is a case of taking it easy and get absolutely everything right for the race. With so many teams displaying competitive performance it should be a great race.
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