Barrichello on pole as Schu blunders
In a meeting with the new circuit of Shangai for most television spectators, Ferrari's Barrichello claimed pole in front of the Chinese crowd. His teammate already messed up in the first corner, going out heavily but taking no damage because of the large security area.
As Ferrari was thought to be dominating, it comes as no surprise that there is a red car in front for tomorrow's race. The start is going to be exciting, because of the wide track and the never ending first sweep the cars will have to get through.
As Schumacher missed that same first corner completely in his flying lap, the second place was open for Kimi Raikkonen, only a tenth down on the leading Ferrari. The Finn is then followed by Jenson Button who commented his car's balance is better then in earlier sessions this weekend.
A little further in the back considering time differences is Felipe Massa in 4th displaying the excellent form of the Sauber-Bridgestone combination. Ralf Schumacher celebrated his F1 return to become 5th and well beating teammate Montoya at Williams, who sits 11th.
In 6th position is the first Renault car in the name of Fernando Alonso. The regular driver at the French team beat newcomer Jacques Villeneuve by 4 tenths. But if you would expect them both closely to each other, you have it wrong. Because of the close midfield these days in F1 (we had earlier seen something similar at Monza) the 1997 champion is 13th
Further in the back we find another rookie, Timo Glock who is 0.7 seconds behind teammate Heidfeld.
Second BAR driver Takuma Sato will start tomorrow's race from 19th position, as he drove a 9th time in qualifying but had to let his engine change during second practice on Friday.
Results are as follows:
1 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:34.012
2 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:34.178
3 J. Button BAR 1:34.295
4 F. Massa Sauber 1:34.759
5 R. Schumacher Williams 1:34.891
6 F. Alonso Renault 1:34.917
7 G. Fisichella Sauber 1:34.951
8 O. Panis Toyota 1:34.975
9 T. Sato BAR 1:34.993
10 D. Coulthard McLaren 1:35.029
11 JP. Montoya Williams 1:35.245
12 M. Webber Jaguar 1:35.286
13 J. Villeneuve Renault 1:35.384
14 R. Zonta Toyota 1:35.410
15 N. Heidfeld Jordan 1:36.507
16 C. Klien Jaguar 1:36.535
17 T. Glock Jordan 1:37.140
18 Z. Baumgartner Minardi 1:40.140
19 M. Schumacher Ferrari no time
20 G. Bruni Minardi no time
