Rubens Barrichello set the fastest time of the
session ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard was third but
over 1.4 seconds off the pace. Raikkonen was 4th fastest ahead of Heinz Harald
Frentzen and Takuma Sato.
A quick look at the times and it is clear that under these
conditions, the Bridgestone tyres are superior to the Michelins. In fact of
the Michelin runners, only McLaren managed a faster time than any Bridgestone
runner. The conditions are expected to change with warmer temperatures
predicted for the race.
There were no major incidents during the session. A few
driver suffered from spins or minor offs but managed to recover.
Pole setter Juan Pablo Montoya had a bad session managing
only 5 laps after spending a long time in the pits after his installation lap.
He ended up 17th fastest.
Nick Heidfeld managed to cover the most number of laps with 16 followed by his
team-mate Felipe Massa with 15 laps.
It is almost impossible to read much into the times from the
session. The cooler temperatures seem to advantage the Bridgestone runners but
we also don't know the kind of fuel load the cars were running.
All this points to an interesting race with tyres and pit stop strategy
crucial to the outcome of the race.
