Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen
traded stunning laps this session and with the top 6 places occupied by the 6
drivers from the top 3 teams, it looks like we'll have a real battle for
Qualifying.
Both Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen
managed to set times below the 1:14 mark and get very close to the Pole time
of last year. Rubens Barrichello was also fast given that he is driving the
old Ferrari while Ralf Schumacher ended up 4th and over 0.8 seconds off the
pace. David Coulthard is 5th ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya.
Behind the top 3 teams, Jenson Button continues
his impressive form setting the 7th best time ahead of the 2 Sauber and surprisingly
Jacques Villeneuve making the top 10.
There were far less spins today as the track
was cleaner but nevertheless, Bernoldi and Sato did spin but managed to
recover.
Alex Yoong covered the most number of laps with
20 followed by both BAR drivers with 17. Juan Pablo Montoya only covered 8
laps and so did Irvine while Barrichello, Massa and Frentzen covered 9 laps.
All other drivers covered between 10 and 16 laps.
Expect the times to drop further in the second
session and with the track temperature expected to rise further, the Michelin
tyres are expected to perform better.
