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Brazilian GP Qualifying - Barrichello Thrills at Home
Written by: RACER Staff   http://www.racer.com
04/04/2003 - 07:00 PM
 
SPEEDtv.com - The Online Motorsports Authority ยป More Photos

A miniscule 0.05sec covered the top three in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, with Rubens Barrichello taking pole position for the start of tomorrow's race. McLaren's David Coulthard went second quickest, with the decidedly on-form Mark Webber determined to prove himself in third, for Jaguar Racing.

Barrichello's broad smile was only outshone by an understandably delighted Webber in the post qualifying press conference. The Australian goes into the Jaguar Racing record books with the team's best qualifying performance to date. Brazilian teammate Antonio Pizzonia could only watch and wonder why his R4 was only capable of 17th-1.5sec off the pace.

Coulthard was separated from his teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified fourth, by just 0.05sec. The Finn looked like a graduate of the Jacques Villeneuve/Juan Pablo Montoya school of driving during his hot lap, sliding visibly through the middle sector on his way to the second row of the grid.

The session kicked off in dry conditions with a temperatures near 100 degrees. Jenson Button was first out after spinning off in yesterday's wet pre-qualifying hour, fortunately the weather behaved this afternoon (Saturday) and the young Englishman enjoyed a brief spell at the top of the times with a lap of 1:14.504.

Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth out after an off in first qualifying. A spectacular 197mph was not enough to offset handling deficiencies on the twisty infield section, but the Colombian did manage to displace Button's BAR.

Ralf Schumacher made a better fist of it than Montoya but it was Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella, who first despatched the Colombian to "P2." Ralf was then slower in the middle sector than the Italian, shedding further doubt on the handling of the Williams there, but he used his extra horsepower in the final, uphill blast onto the straight to beat him by 0.6sec. The Geman finished the day in sixth, behind Renault's Jarno Trulli. Fisichella went on to qualify an excellent eighth.

It was strange to see Michael
Schumacher shuffled down to seventh, but with fuel loads a closely guarded secret we will have to wait until the race to see this afternoon's performance in its true light. The World Champion looked as unruffled as ever afterwards, perhaps secure in the knowledge that his place on the grid is a mere 0.3sec off Barrichello's pole time.

Elsewhere in the battle of the teammates; Olivier Panis was 1.4sec slower than his impressive fastest lap in practice and finished 15th, three slots ahead of Cristiano da Matta. Third place finisher in Malaysia, Fernando Alonso, couldn't match Jarno Trulli's pace and took his Renault to 10th, behind a receding Montoya. Meanwhile Jacques Villeneuve chased Jenson Button down but lost out by 0.16sec, the pair finishing either side of Nick Heidfeld's Sauber in 11th and 13th.

The latest weather forecast for tomorrow in Sao Paulo is cloudy with thunderstorms....


Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying results:

1) Rubens Barrichello, Marlboro Ferrari, 1:13.807
2) David Coulthard, West McLaren/Mercedes, 1:13.818
3) Mark Webber, Jaguar/Cosworth, 1:13.851
4) Kimi Raikkonen, West McLaren/Mercedes, 1:13.866
5) Jarno Trulli, Mild Seven Renault, 1:13.953
6) Ralf Schumacher, Williams/BMW, 1:14.124
7) Michael Schumacher, Marlboro Ferrari, 1:14.130
8) Giancarlo Fisichella, Jordan/Ford, 1:14.191
9) Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams/BMW, 1:14.223
10) Fernando Alonso, Mild Seven Renault, 1:14.384
11) Jenson Button, Lucky Strike BAR/Honda, 1:14.504
12) Nick Heidfeld, Sauber/Petronas, 1:14.631
13) Jacques Villeneuve, Lucky Strike BAR/Honda, 1:14.668
14) Olivier Panis, Toyota, 1:14.839
15) Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Sauber/Petronas, 1:14.839
16) Ralph Firman, Jordan/Ford, 1:15.240
17) Antonio Pizzonia, Jaguar/Cosworth, 1:15.317
18) Cristiano da Matta, Toyota, 1:15.641
19) Jos Verstappen, Minardi/Cosworth, 1:16.542
20) Justin Wilson, Minardi/Cosworth, 1:16.586