12/04/2002

Imola - Free Practice Round-Up

The Formula 1 world championship begins its European season in Italy this weekend and the opening day results at Imola have been shaped by the weather. With the two hours of practice held exclusively on a wet track Panasonic Toyota Racing's Mika Salo finished up in 20th position with Allan McNish 22nd.

The team came to Italy with a new aerodynamic package and a performance step on the engine but conditions have meant that it has not been possible to accurately assess progress.

"We have not had much running in the wet so we have some work to do on the car's set up said Allan McNish. I certainly hope we have drier conditions tomorrow."

Team-mate Mika Salo agreed: "We knew it would be difficult if it rained because we have not tested much in wet conditions but I am sure there is something better to come tomorrow he commented.

Chief designer Gustav Brunner said: The times today were all about tyres. At one point for example Mika improved his time by 5 seconds on his first lap just by changing tyres. Also we know that the weather later on will be more important and we are not changing the set-up too much for the wet. We don't have a lot of experience in these kind of conditions and we were keen not to risk setting ourselves back by damaging the cars."

The conditions were indeed tricky with both Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya caught out by spins late in the second session as the track dried sufficiently for some teams to consider a switch to intermediate rubber. McNish also had a 'moment' when he locked his brakes going into the first chicane and skated across the gravel trap without sustaining any damage to his TF102 chassis.

Michael Schumacher finished the day on top of the timesheets 0.2s faster than his team mate Rubens Barrichello who also has the new F2002 chassis at his disposal at the team's home circuit.

Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan-Honda was third fastest with the McLaren-Mercedes cars of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and fifth places respectively separated by just 0.03s. Heinz-Harald Frentzen impressed in the wet for Orange Arrows to complete the top 6.