Michael Schumacher continues his domination of the US
Grand Prix setting the fastest time in every session so far this weekend.
Rubens Barrichello was second fastest and 0.138 second behind. Olivier Panis,
Takuma Sato, Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Salo make the top 6.
Irvine, Coulthard, Button and Fisichella make the top 10. Montoya was 11th
while Ralf Schumacher was down in 16th.
Panis, Sato and Salo were surprisingly fast but it is more
than likely that they are planning a 2 stop strategy and are running on a
light fuel load. Salo's time was just over half a second slower than his
qualifying time. Most other drivers are over 2 seconds slower than their
qualifying times!
There were no major incidents during the session. A number
of drivers spun but managed to recover.
Giancarlo Fisichella covered the most number of laps with 17
while Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button covered the least number of laps with
8 laps each.
The race is set to be a close one (apart from the Ferraris!)
with just 2.4 seconds separating the whole field. Expect to see plenty of
overtaking on the oval section and plenty of spins in the infield as drivers
drop wing to have a car faster on the straight but less grip in the infield
section.
