Michael Schumacher finished Friday free practice on top of the timesheets in another dominant Ferrari performance. Schumi finished the overcast practice session ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello and 0.3 of a second quicker than Kimi Raikkonen in conditions that could well get hotter and suit the McLaren's Michelin tyres tomorrow and on Sunday.
It was a session in which almost every top driver spun at some point on the circuit. Michael, brother Ralf, David Coulthard and Alex Yoong all lost it in the slippery Turn 2, where Alex Yoong was unlucky enough to beach his Minardi on the kerb.
Revelation of the session was Eddie Irvine who got his Jaguar up to 6th place, pleasing Jaguar boss Niki Lauda. "Eddie did a good job and the car seems to be well-balanced so I'm very happy with it," said Lauda.
The most miserable session was that endured by the Renault team. Jarno Trulli made another off-road excursion, following on from his Magny Cours incident, but ended up not much slower than Jenson Button who finished 19th.
Jenson complained of not being able to get either end to grip properly, with the car hopelessly unbalanced. "The circuit isn't quite like we thought from our computer simulations," said Renault's Pat Symmonds. "We tend to estimate for levels of grip but we're a little bit out here."
Almost every driver found it difficult mastering Turn 2, the hairpin and Turn 12 (Agip) which is where the old circuit enters the Stadium section. Jacques managed a 720 degree spin on the exit of Turn 12 and Takuma Sato and Felipe Massa both had a series of lurid moments there. It was a difficult start for JV, and he ended up 17th in the timesheets.
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