Length:4.309 km
Number of Laps:71 (305.909 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'14''755 (2000, Ferrari)
Record Pole: J. Montoya - 1'13''114 (2002, Williams)
2002 Pole: J. Montoya - 1'13''114 (Williams)
2002 Podium: M. Schumacher - R. Schumacher - D. Coulthard

The Interlagos circuit in Brazil hosted a rainy practice period, followed by an intermittent qualifying session. Several drivers spun off the track while posting their times. Most notable was Juan Montoya who still managed a 3rd place initially. Jenson Button was not able to post a time after spinning and breaking 2 track side signs, which damaged his rear wing as he backed through them.

There was a certain amount of luck involved today, as the conditions changed quickly. This gave the advantage to some and hurt most of the others. Michael Schumacher spun during his warm up lap as the rain poured down. He managed a 5th place position, some 2.4 sec off the top time.

Rubens Barrichello was the man who gained the most when the track was sufficiently dry to allow him to set the quickest time which stood until Jaguar’s Mark Webber topped it later with a 1m 23.111 seconds lap.

This was truly an outstanding effort for the team and Australian driver.

Other notable poor performances include: Ralf Schumacher in 13th, Nick Heidfeld 16th and Juan Montoya in 17th after the order was sorted. Neither Jordan was impressive today. The McLaren duo of Raikkonen and Coulthard managed respectable 3rd and 4th positions.

Jacques Villeneuve did well with a 7th and the 2nd Jaguar of Pizzonia in 8th. The top rookie position goes to Fernando Alonso in the Renault who pre qualified in 9th. The run down for tomorrow’s final qualifying is as follows and rain is predicted all weekend.

1Webber/Jaguar,2 Barrichello/Ferrari,3 Raikkonen/McLaren, 4 Coulthard/McLaren,5 M Schumacher/Ferrari,6 Panis/Toyota, 7 Villeneuve/BAR,8 Pizzonia/Jaguar,9 Alonso/Renault,10 Frentzen/Sauber,11 Da Matta/Toyota,12 Trulli/Renault,13 R Schumacher/Williams,14 Fisichella/Jordan,15 Verstappen/Minardi, 16 Heidfeld/Sauber,17 Montoya/Williams,18 Firman/Jordan, 19 Wilson/Minardi and 20 Button/BAR.

Article by: Tony Moffett