Atlas F1 News Service, a Reuters report

Saturday Second Free Practice - San Marino GP

Saturday April 14th, 2001

World champion Michael Schumacher led a familiar Ferrari one-two in free practice on Saturday for the San Marino Formula One Grand Prix. The German did 27 laps and went round in one minute 30.737 seconds, ahead of Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello in 1:31.003.

Although times were slow compared to Friday's best of 1:25.096, when the red cars were also fastest, Ferrari looked good for official qualifying later on Saturday at a circuit named after team founder Enzo and his son Dino.

Schumacher, whose run of six wins in a row was ended in Brazil by McLaren's David Coulthard, will be chasing a record-equalling eighth successive pole position.

Scot Coulthard was third fastest, ahead of the surprising Finnish newcomer Kimi Raikkonen in a Sauber.

The morning started cold and wet -- snow fell on the nearby hills -- but later saw blue skies and sunshine.

Raikkonen's performance, in a session likely to have seen cars running on different fuel loads and testing set-up, was highly impressive given his lack of experience and the fact that he had not driven at Imola before the weekend.

The 21-year-old will be starting only his fourth Formula One race on Sunday after securing his drive at Ferrari-engined Sauber on the back of just 23 single-seater races in his career.

His Sauber teammate Nick Heidfeld was sixth fastest.

Brazilian Luciano Burti, in a Jaguar, veered off and banged into the barriers early in the session after just two laps and did not take part in the second session.

"It was just too wet," said a team spokesman. "He put the power down and went off."

His teammate Eddie Irvine did only 14 laps and was slowest after Burti with a time set in the first session.

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf, who qualified his Williams on the front row at Interlagos before being shunted out by Barrichello, was one of several drivers to spin in the first session.

The team, whose Colombian debutant Juan Pablo Montoya led in Brazil before Dutch driver Jos Verstappen drove into the back of him, practised on Friday with "Keep Your Distance" painted on the rear wing.

They reverted to a more conventional "BMW Power" on Saturday and ended the session down on the leaders.

Ralf was seventh fastest, in 1:33.025, while Montoya was 12th, but both can be expected to push the Ferraris hard in qualifying.

Pos. Driver        Team                   Times                 
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B) 1:30.737  195.717 km/h
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B) 1:31.003    +    0.266
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (B) 1:31.536    +    0.799
 4.  Raikkonen     Sauber Petronas    (B) 1:31.726    +    0.989
 5.  Frentzen      Jordan Honda       (B) 1:32.164    +    1.427
 6.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B) 1:32.392    +    1.655
 7.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M) 1:33.025    +    2.288
 8.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B) 1:33.071    +    2.334
 9.  Bernoldi      Arrows Asiatech    (B) 1:33.884    +    3.147
10.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes   (B) 1:34.036    +    3.299
11.  Alesi         Prost Acer         (M) 1:34.531    +    3.794
12.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M) 1:34.548    +    3.811
13.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B) 1:34.789    +    4.052
14.  Verstappen    Arrows Asiatech    (B) 1:34.948    +    4.211
15.  Mazzacane     Prost Acer         (M) 1:35.056    +    4.319
16.  Trulli        Jordan Honda       (B) 1:36.046    +    5.309
17.  Alonso        European Minardi   (M) 1:36.058    +    5.321
18.  Marques       European Minardi   (M) 1:36.671    +    5.934
19.  Button        Benetton Renault   (M) 1:38.306    +    7.569
20.  Fisichella    Benetton Renault   (M) 1:39.214    +    8.477
21.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M) 1:41.771    + 0:11.034

All timing unofficial



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