Australian GP: Minardi Saturday notes

Minardi Asiatrech drivers Mark Webber and Alex Yoong qualified for the opening race of the 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship in 18th and 21st positions respectively.

The Minardi duo managed to put in their times before the rains came down hard. Using 2 sets of tyres, Webber managed two timed runs and clocked 1m30.086s while Alex was only able to do one timed run as his first timed run was aborted due to a red flag because of Takuma Sato's parked Jordan just off the track. Alex's time of 1m 31.504s was however good enough to qualify him for the race.

"I made a small mistake in my only timed run which could have cost me a second but I am glad that it's good enough to get Malaysia in." said Alex after qualifying.

Ferrari grabbed the front row with Rubens Barichello in pole with 1m 25.843s which smashed last year's pole time of 1m 26.892s set by Michael Schumacher who was second today with a time of 1m 25.848s. the second row is an split between Williams and McLaren with Schumacher Jr. in third with 1m 26.279s and David Coulthard in fourth with 1m 26.446s.

Japan's 'rising son'. Takuma Sato of the Jordan team had a torrid day which started when he badly damaged his car in this morning's practice and then his T-car which he used for qualifying packing up with gearbox trouble on his outlap of qualifying. Although he did not make the 107% rule to be eligible for the race, the Stewards met to allow Sato in due to exceptional circumstances. This would be good news for all of Japan as Sato is seen as a symbol of Japanese revival for the country in Formula 1.

-minardi-