Administrators are debating proposals that could add excitement to F1, but McLaren did not need their help on Friday. Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard upstaged Ferrari by topping the timesheets at Suzuka.
Administrators are debating proposals that could add excitement to F1, but McLaren did not need their help on Friday. Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard upstaged the dominant Ferrari team by topping the timesheets at Suzuka.
Finland’s Raikkonen, still seeking a first win at the end of his second season in Formula One, lapped nearly half a second faster than Coulthard during free practice for Sunday’s Japanese Formula One Grand Prix.
His time of 1:34,232 was considerably slower than Michael Schumacher’s 2001 pole of 1:32,484 but the Suzuka circuit has been modified since then.
Raikkonen was 1,170 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello with five-time world champion Michael Schumacher sidelined for much of the second session with an hydraulic problem after lapping fastest in the morning.
Ferrari are chasing their 15th win of the season, a victory that would equal McLaren’s 1988 record set by the late former champion Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
The Italian team has already secured both drivers’ and constructors’ titles, with Schumacher taking his record-equaling fifth championship in France in July, with six races to spare and in record time.
The first day of the last race of the season was marked by two crashes, with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve veering into the tyre barriers in the first session and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in the second.
Neither driver was hurt although Montoya’s sideways impact in the Williams looked a hard one.
“The car just got away from him,” said team technical director Patrick Head. “It was rather unfortunate. He said he was fine but obviously he’ll have a check-up if necessary.”
Villeneuve’s crash ripped the nose and rear wing off his British American Racing car and halted the session as workers cleaned up the debris scattered across the track.
“It was a heavier crash than I thought,” said the Canadian, champion in 1997 with Williams. “You’re spinning like mad and you think you are not going fast and when you hit the wall it’s like ‘Oh, wow. That was faster than I thought.'”
Schumacher, chasing a record 11th win of the season and triumphant at Suzuka for the past two seasons, completed only four laps in the afternoon after earlier lapping 0,239 of a second faster than Barrichello.
Montoya still ended the day fourth quickest while team mate Ralf Schumacher was placed fifth and just ahead of his older brother.
The Jaguars of Briton Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa made a promising start to the weekend in seventh and eighth places respectively.
Brazilian Felipe Massa returned for Sauber after being replaced at the last U.S. Grand Prix to avoid a starting penalty, but the Swiss-based team struggled. Massa was 15th fastest, ahead of German team mate Nick Heidfeld in 16th place.
