Formula 1
Barrichello on top in Sunday warmup
Rubens Barrichello continued his current trend of lapping faster than Michael Schumacher and with Montoya consigned to fifth position in the final 30-minute warmup session today at Silverstone, Barrichello headed the timesheets with a scintillating ...
Published: Aug 25, 2005, 7:12 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Rubens Barrichello continued his current trend of lapping faster than Michael Schumacher and with Montoya consigned to fifth position in the final 30-minute warmup session today at Silverstone, Barrichello headed the timesheets with a scintillating lap of 1:22.371, nearly half a second faster than Michael Schumacher.
As ever, the warmup session can be misleading as drivers and team run varying fuel loads to prepare and sometimes mislead their rivals over their true race pace, However, few doubt that Ferrari will be the fastest cars in race conditions later today.
It was another mixed session from McLaren Mercedes with Kimi Raikkonen having a trouble free run to the third fastest time while David Coulthard effectively lost the second half of the session thanks to a Mercedes engine failure. As the mechanics busied themselves swapping the spare car settings from Raikkonen’s taste to Coulthard’s Ron Dennis explained that it was better the engine failed now than a few laps into the race. Hard to argue with that.
Takuma Sato was fourth fastest in his Jordan Honda undoubtedly on a very light fuel load ahead of pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya in his BMW Williams. For Montoya, being just over two seconds a lap slower in race trim than Rubens Barrichello must be a real concern. Teammate Ralf Schumacher opted to save his BMW engine and completes just five laps and was subsequently back in 15th overall.
Nick Heidfeld was sixth fastest ahead of Jacques Villeneuve who is particularly confident heading into this race as his BAR Honda has been well balanced throughout the weekend regardless of weather conditions. Felipe Massa slithered his way to eighth fastest overall despite two minor off track excursions while Coulthard and the Renault of Jarno Trulli rounded out the top ten.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen was a more competitive 11th fastest in his Arrows Cosworth following his disappointing qualifying session yesterday, but a mechanical problem left him stranded at Copse corner.
Of the rest, Jenson Button struggled again in his Renault, recording the 17th fastest overall while Eddie Irvine’s nightmare weekend and season continued with Jaguar driver flat last now that Alex Yoong has been eliminated from the field after failing to qualify.
Heavy clouds still remain overhead at Silverstone and while the weather forecast claim it will not rain; it sure looks like it will. The Michelin runners, including pole man Juan Pablo Montoya will be praying for the circuit to remain dry, or if it does rain, rain hard enough to ensure that Michelin runners cannot use their super-fast intermediate tire.
As ever, pitstops and strategy will be critical as Michael Schumacher found out to his cost last year when a one-stop strategy handed the race to Mika Hakkinen. Expect most teams to run two stops and expect Rubens Barrichello to act as the Ferrari hare once again if he can pass Montoya from the start.
-Courtesy of CART-Racing.com
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article A backward step for Ferrari
Next article High-speed Monza a unique challenge
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Juan Pablo Montoya
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
IndyCar
IndyCar
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
Juan Pablo Montoya admires Franco Colapinto's "aggressive" approach despite Baku crash
Formula 1
Formula 1
Azerbaijan GP
Juan Pablo Montoya admires Franco Colapinto's "aggressive" approach despite Baku crash
Williams tipped for "huge step" forward at Azerbaijan GP with major upgrade
Formula 1
Formula 1
Spanish GP
Williams tipped for "huge step" forward at Azerbaijan GP with major upgrade
More from
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc blames Mexico GP clash on track layout - Fred Vasseur disagrees
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
4 h
Charles Leclerc blames Mexico GP clash on track layout - Fred Vasseur disagrees
Lewis Hamilton slams Charles Leclerc for "do or die" attitude after Mexico GP clash
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
23 h
Lewis Hamilton slams Charles Leclerc for "do or die" attitude after Mexico GP clash
Latest news
How Red Bull's crucial strategy call helped Max Verstappen win the "Maxico Grand Prix"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
7 min
How Red Bull's crucial strategy call helped Max Verstappen win the "Maxico Grand Prix"
Toyota explains call to run Celica and Yaris models in WRC 2027
WRC
WRC WRC 59 min
Toyota explains call to run Celica and Yaris models in WRC 2027
Isack Hadjar blames himself for George Russell clash that “ruined” his Mexico GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
Isack Hadjar blames himself for George Russell clash that “ruined” his Mexico GP
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe