Ralf Schumacher was 3rd out and that is where he placed the Williams. His teammate Montoya knocked him off the 2nd place time that he originally was credited with. Both Williams are only fractionally slower than Schumacher’s Ferrari, but it is encouraging to see them behind the world champion.

Rubens Barrichello beached his Ferrari in his qualifying attempt and will have to start pole qualifying 2nd tomorrow. His off track experience seemed recoverable as it occurred at relatively slow speed, but he was unable to do so. The Renaults of Alonso and Trulli fared well setting times good enough for 4th and 6th spots respectably. Panis in the BAR took 5th with the McLaren of Coulthard 7th.

Mark Webber in the Jaguar managed 8th with Jenson Button in the 2nd BAR behind him in 9th. Da Matta in the 2nd Toyota takes 10th and the 2nd Jaguar of Pizzonia has 11th for himself. Raikkonen as mentioned earlier starts from 12th with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve in the 2nd BAR 13th.

The Saubers of Heidfeld and Frentzen start their qualifying runs from 14th and 15th position. The 2 Jordans of Fisichella and Firman roll away for their qualifying runs from 16th and 17th spots. Jos Verstappen was the last car to complete a run, so he will start his attempt from 18th spot.

Justin Wilson in the 2nd Minardi pulled off track and aborted his attempt for reasons unknown to me at this time. By virtue of points he will have to go 1st tomorrow with Barrichello 2nd.

The weather started out reasonably good after a morning rain, but became misty towards the end of the session. With the extremely unpredictable nature of the weather at Silverstone it is anybodies guess what the drivers will have to contend with during the rest of the race weekend.

Article by: Tony Moffett