Brazilian GP: Bridgestone Saturday notes

Schumacher on the front row

Michael Schumacher will start the Brazilian Grand Prix on the front row - but not from the pole position he has held for the past two years. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver completed just nine out of the 12 laps allowed in qualifying in the F2002 and finished the day just short of Juan Pablo Montoya's pole position time with a 1:13.241. His teammate Rubens Barrichello, driving the modified F2001, finished in 8th place. The Brazilian was forced to accept his second best qualifying time after leaving the pit lane under a red light in morning practice, the penalty being that his best qualifying time would not count. However, this did not affect his final position on the grid. Also in the top ten was Nick Heidfeld, whose fastest time in the spare car put him in 9th place for Sauber Petronas.

Bridgestone Results
2nd Michael Schumacher 1:13.241
8th Rubens Barrichello 1:13.935
9th Nick Heidfeld 1:14.233
12th Felipe Massa 1:14.533
14th Giancarlo Fisichella 1:14.748
15th Jacques Villeneuve 1:14.760
17th Olivier Panis 1:14.996
18th Heinz-Harald Frentzen 1:15.112
19th Takuma Sato 1:15.296
21st Enrique Bernoldi 1:15.355.

Hisao Suganuma, technical manager, Bridgestone Motorsport

"Although we have one car on the front row it is the only one in the top six. However, there are various reasons for that. It is a shame we missed out on the pole position and from a tyre point of view we need to work harder to improve. Hopefully tomorrow will be a different story. "

Ross Brawn, technical director, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

"It was a good debut for the new car and its competitiveness was undoubtedly one of the reasons why Michael was able to compete today. We wanted to be on pole, Bridgestone wanted to be on pole but it didn't happen today. It's impossible in this business to be dominant at every track. We know the areas where we need to improve and I am not too despondent about it. Rubens was a little frustrated about the penalty this morning. There was no point in him trying to go quicker because the time would have been taken away so he didn't do a fourth three-lap run."

Race Data
Track Length: 4.309km (2.677 miles) - Number of laps: 71+1 - 2001 Race Winner: David Coulthard - 2001 Pole Position: Michael Schumacher - 2001 Pole Position time: 1:13.780

Temperature     Ambient Track   Weather

Morning        25-32C  29-46C  Hot and sunny

Afternoon      32C     46-49C  Hot and sunny

-bridgestone-