**Practice Surprise Times?**

[alex_gt]

Well it doesn't seem like a couple of days :clock: since the :USA: GP (Probably thanks to Jordan and Mistax's great threads and pictures) and there getting ready for another big race :chkflag: in Suzuka :thumbsup:..

So what do people think of these practice times, is it just another Michelin tyre :burnout: win for a 2 Lap run, will the Bridgestone :ferrari:'s have the advantage (again )?

Friday free practice times from Suzuka

1 - RAIKKONEN :mclaren::mercedes: 1m34.232s2

2 - COULTHARD :mclaren::mercedes: 1m34.730s

3 - BARRICHELLO :ferrari: 1m35.402s

4 - MONTOYA Williams:bmw: 1m35.742s

5 - R.SCHUMACHER Williams:bmw: 1m35.995s

6 - M.SCHUMACHER :ferrari: 1m36.109s

7 - IRVINE :jaguar:Cosworth 1m36.190s

8 - DE LA ROSA :jaguar:Cosworth 1m36.490s

9 - TRULLI :renault: 1m36.529s

10 - FISICHELLA Jordan:honda: 1m36.744s

11 - SALO :toyota: 1m36.893s

12 - BUTTON :renault: 1m37.014s

13 - SATO Jordan :honda: 1m37.196s

14 - MCNISH :toyota: 1m37.384s

15 - MASSA Sauber Petronas 1m37.492s

16 - HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m37.781s

17 - PANIS BAR :honda: 1m37.927s

18 - WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1m37.997s

19 - VILLENEUVE BAR :honda: 1m38.138s

20 - YOONG Minardi Asiatech 1m39.142s

 

[alex_gt]

The Free Practice Day

MCLAREN TAKE EARLY ADVANTAGE

McLaren led the way in Suzuka free practice to indicate the team’s recent testing form is no red herring.

Kimi Raikkonen led David Coulthard on the timesheets as the Silver Arrows dominated the opening track action of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

Coulthard has played down the team's progress after test driver Alex Wurz set a new unofficial lap record at Barcelona in testing recently. But today’s times suggest McLaren is moving in the right direction once more.

The session was interrupted by a couple of huge accidents involving Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya. Villeneuve went off at the massively quick 130R after losing the back end of the BAR on the kerbs. He hit the barriers hard but the car was repaired and he managed to get out later in the second session. Montoya heavily damaged his car after shunting in the dying minutes of the second session. He made a mistake and understeered off the road at the second Degner Curve.

Rubens Barrichello made steady progress to go third quickest but was no match for the McLarens today. However, it is likely he was running more fuel than Raikkonen and Coulthard. Michael Schumacher was only sixth overall after missing a large chunk of the second session with hydraulic problems, failing to complete a flying lap. However, ominously for the opposition he was quickest in the first session.

In the chasing pack, it was very much business as usual as the Jaguars, Renaults, Jordans experimented with set-up.

Alex Yoong suffered another blown Asiatech engine, his Minardi in flames in pitlane. The Malaysian driver was quick to get out of his car as the mechanics doused the flames.

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher, who was fifth quickest in the session, is celebrating his 100th GP start this weekend. And it's a special weekend for Takuma Sato as he races in front of his home fans.

 

[Pupik]

Toyota's still learning, but Honda ought to have a trick engine for qualfying at their home track...looking quite silly right now.

Maybe Honda needs to stick to only one open-wheeled category at a time.

 

[alex_gt]

Yea I was very shocked with Villeneuve :rscared:..

Hopefully Jordan will improve or at least begin to when :ford: arrive? They gotta start racing with the big guns upfront soon?

 

[vat_man]

Friday times are pretty meaningless - has anyone seen footage of the Villenueve/Montoya crashes?

 

[-Fred-]

saw Villeneuve's, didn't see/hear anything about Montoya.

Villeneuve's crash looked worse than it is... all the deformable structures did their work, actually.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by PunkRock
saw Villeneuve's, didn't see/hear anything about Montoya.

Villeneuve's crash looked worse than it is... all the deformable structures did their work, actually.

Considering that BAR rebuilt the car in 90 minutes, it couldn't have been that bad. Montoya got air off one of the Degner kerbs, and was then (to use my favourite Brundle-ism) heading straight for the scene of the accident.

Ferrari were sandbagging on Friday it would appear...

 

[toleman19]

Hoping for JPM.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by toleman19
Hoping for JPM.

Then you'd better pray to Job (pronounced to rhyme with strobe).

He's the patron saint of lost causes.

 

[toleman19]

MS gets pole again.

 

[alex_gt]

F1 Qualifying in Suzuka :earth:

Well after a very long :teleport: qualifying session these were the final results. Did everyone see McNishes amazing crash, amazing in that he survived it?

:uk:'s ITV :tv: saw the spin :spin: but not the impact :bomb:, anyone see him actually go through that barrier? The expression, '🤬 your pants' must only vaguely explain Alan's thoughts 💡 on him crashing at those phenomenal speeds? :burnout:

Final qualifying times from Suzuka

:chkflag: :car: :clock:
1 M.SCHUMACHER :ferrari: 1m31.317s

2 BARRICHELLO :ferrari: 1m31.749s

3 COULTHARD :mclaren::mercedes: 1m32.088s

4 RAIKKONEN :mclaren::mercedes: 1m32.197s

5 R.SCHUMACHER Williams:bmw: 1m32.444s

6 MONTOYA Williams:bmw: 1m32.507s

7 SATO Jordan :honda: 1m33.090s

8 FISICHELLA Jordan :honda: 1m33.276s

9 VILLENEUVE BAR :honda: 1m33.349s

10 BUTTON :renault: 1m33.429s

11 TRULLI :renault: 1m33.547s

12 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m33.553s

13 SALO :toyota: 1m33.742s

14 IRVINE :jaguar:Cosworth 1m33.915s

15 MASSA Sauber Petronas 1m33.979s

16 PANIS BAR :honda: 1m34.192s

17 DE LA ROSA :jaguar: Cosworth 1m34.227s

18 MCNISH :toyota: 1m35.191s

19 WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1m35.958s

20 YOONG Minardi Asiatech 1m36.267s

And here's a written race review:

Michael Schumacher was once more the class of the F1 field as he put in another storming performance to dominate qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

However, the story of the session was the miraculous escape of Allan McNish. The Scot climbed unhurt from a steaming pile of wreckage after crashing his Toyota at 180mph at the notorious 130R corner.

McNish's car actually punched a hole in the barrier as it spun off the track backwards and ended up in the safety area between the wall and the spectators. The session was stopped for an hour as the barrier was repaired and McNish was taken to the medical centre for checks. Amazingly, he seems to have escapd with only a bruised knee and looks set to race tomorrow.


Once the session got underway again Schumacher reasserted his dominance. His first flying lap put him 0.8s ahead of his team-mate and he was never headed once out in front.

For the rest it was a case of fighting for the second slot. David Coulthard looked at one stage as though he would be able to split the Ferraris as he banged in a great lap to get within 0.5s of Schumacher.

But Barrichello replied in the dying minutes of the session with an effort which at one stage looked as though it could challenge Schumacher’s pole lap. However, he lost a stack of time in the final sector and then Schumacher pulled out the stops to shave another 0.2s with his final run.

Kimi Raikkonen grabbed fourth after some awesomely committed driving throughout the session while the Williams drivers slumped to a disappointing fifth and sixth, with Ralf Schumacher gaining the advantage.

Schumacher’s mesmerising form aside, the driver of the day was local hero Takuma Sato. Always stunningly committed, the Japanese driver looked like an accident waiting to happen at times. However, he kept it all together to take seventh with his final lap. This was a monumental effort in front of his home crowd as his previous best qualifying position was 12th.

Sato finished one place ahead of his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella and BAR’s Jacques Villeneuve, who did a great job to recover from the large accident he suffered in Friday’s free practice. Honda will also be delighted to have qualified three cars in the top-ten at their home grand prix.

Another happy bunny will be Jenson Button who outpaced his team-mate Jarno Trulli in his final race for Renault to take tenth on the grid.

And here's the story on that nasty smash :answer:

Allan McNish escaped an enormous accident in qualifying after going over the barriers at 130R.

The Scot lost control of his Toyota at 180mph after getting sideways in the superfast right hander. The car started sliding and then snapped back to the right as McNish corrected the car.

He hit the barrier with huge force and ended up in the no-man’s land between the barriers and the spectator areas. Incredibly no marshals were hurt by debris despite the car flying close to a marshal post.

The rear of the Toyota was completely destroyed although McNish was soon out of the car and recovering at the side of the track. He was taken to the medical centre by F1 doctor Professor Sid Watkins and underwent scans and tests. He has escaped with only a bruised knee.

He did not take part again in the session when it re-started but he has been passed fit to race on Sunday.

McNish said: "I have got a big bruise to my right knee but apart from that everything is okay.

"Usually when you have a huge accident you can't remember anything but unfortunately I remember everything.

"I came through the corner and everything was fine until the last moment at the exit. The car swapped ends and after that I was just a passenger.

"On my first run I had been quite conservative but the car was a bit better on the second run - maybe I was a little too comfortable.

"I am 100 per cent ready to race, no question. I felt fine in the medical centre but Prof Watkins said he would prefer me not to go out again in qualifying."

Watkins will give McNish a check-up on Sunday morning before deciding whether the Scot is fit to start his last race for Toyota.

The crash was horribly reminiscent of an accident McNish had in F3000 at Donington back in 1990. On that occasion a spectator was killed after his car leapt over the barrier.

 

[toleman19]

Is it me or there are some wild crashes at susuka??