Schumacher Leads All Ferrari Front Row - Australia
Saturday March 6th, 2004
By Will Gray
World Champion Michael Schumacher led a Ferrari one-two in qualifying for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix on Saturday as the Italian team blew away the doubts about their ability to hold onto their title this season.
Schumacher, with a devastatingly precise lap around Albert Park, set the fastest time of 1:24.408 - the fastest time ever seen around the Melbourne circuit - to top the times in a thrilling session.
He finished 0.074 seconds ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello - to claim Ferrari's fourth consecutive season-opening front row start - with Juan Pablo Montoya third for Williams-BMW.
But Montoya, the man expected to mount the championship challenge this year, finished more than half a second off Schumacher's fastest time and his effort - 0.509 seconds off pole - was equalled by Briton Jenson Button in fourth for BAR.
The qualifying was impressive for Ferrari, but their fuel levels remain under question and it remains to be seen whether the Italian team and their Bridgestone tyre manufacturers have stolen a march on the opposition.
At the start of the session, Italian Gianmaria Bruni failed to get out of the pits in time for his first qualifying run for Minardi. He did not set a time and will, therefore, start from the back of the grid.
Italian Giorgio Pantano finished more than half a second faster than Baumgartner on his first qualifying lap for Jordan while German Nick Heidfeld finished two seconds faster.
Italian Jarno Trulli, the first of the lead runners, finished one and a half seconds further ahead of the field after coming out earlier in the session following a poor time in the first session.
Christian Klien was the next driver out but he made a mistake on his out lap and, after cutting across the grass with a steering problem as he headed into his qualifying lap, he decided to pull his Jaguar into the pits.
Olivier Panis, in the Toyota, was the next man due to come out for a qualifying lap but, after stalling on his way out of the pits, he failed to get going and was forced to angrily climb out of the car after suffering a throttle problem.
Japanese driver Takuma Sato became the fastest man through the first speed trap in the qualifying session and he topped the times with a time of 1:25.851 in the BAR-Honda.
Mark Webber, on home soil in the Jaguar, just beat Sato to the top of the timesheets with a time just 0.046 seconds ahead of the BAR-Honda driver but there were still seven drivers left to set a time.
Barrichello, the first Ferrari driver out on track in the session, was immediately half a second quicker in the first sector and he finished 1.323 seconds ahead to claim the fastest ever lap at Albert Park.
Improving conditions at the Melbourne circuit helped Fernando Alonso to set a significantly faster lap than his teammate Jarno Trulli but he was more than a second slower than Barrichello.
Button, next up in the spare BAR-Honda car after cracking the chassis in practice, put himself into second place and finished inside the one minute and 25 second bracket, but he was still more than half a second behind Barrichello.
David Coulthard hoped to get ahead of compatriot Button but he finished almost three seconds off the lead pace after careering over the kerbs on the final corner of his lap and flying into the air as he headed towards the finish line.
His teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, who many have tipped to be a title challenger to Schumacher this season, could do little better than Coulthard and finished 1.815 seconds off the pace.
Ralf Schumacher was out next and he was half a second slower than Barrichello after the first sector. He finished with a time almost one and a half seconds off the pace.
Schumacher looked to have his work cut out to beat Barrichello and he was just under his teammate's time after the first sector. He bettered that time in the second sector and finished 0.074 seconds faster. |
