Saturday March 2nd, 2002

Sweeping showers of drizzle and heavier rain upset the preparations of all the teams on Saturday morning as Michael Schumacher and Ferrari topped the times, following an earlier heavy accident involving new boy Takuma Sato, in final practice before qualifying for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Sato was unhurt, Schumacher unflustered and Ferrari ascendant as the chequered flag fell at the end of the morning.

Umbrellas and wet-weather clothing, in all kinds of colours, were apparent all over the Albert Park track in the final minutes when the teams, after several incidents, retreated into their dry garages. Even Schumacher, who topped the listings with a best time of one minute and 26.177 seconds, had one off-on moment as he pushed in the damp conditions.

His former Ferrari teammate and friend Mika Salo, back with the new Toyota team that has impressed with straight line speed and an unfussy approach to the task, had gone off twice early in the second part of the morning. He was followed on the incidents' list by Olivier Panis, in his BAR-Honda, when the Frenchman came to a halt. Nick Heidfeld, in the impressive Sauber, also stopped on the circuit.

Saturday practice ended with the 'old' Ferraris opening up a gap of more than a second ahead of Juan-Pablo Montoya in the leading Williams-BMW, his team-mate Ralf Schumacher and the two McLaren Mercedes-Benzs. It was, in many respects, the same old story as last year, normal service resumed, but the weather threatened an upset.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                 
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:26.177  221.530 km/h
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:26.331    +    0.154
 3.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:27.394    +    1.217
 4.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:27.424    +    1.247
 5.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:27.505    +    1.328
 6.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:27.635    +    1.458
 7.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:28.295    +    2.118
 8.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:28.557    +    2.380
 9.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:28.570    +    2.393
10.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda       (B)  1:28.605    +    2.428
11.  Massa         Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:28.700    +    2.523
12.  Trulli        Renault            (M)  1:28.773    +    2.596
13.  Button        Renault            (M)  1:28.881    +    2.704
14.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:29.174    +    2.997
15.  McNish        Toyota             (M)  1:29.663    +    3.486
16.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:29.724    +    3.547
17.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:29.737    +    3.560
18.  Salo          Toyota             (M)  1:30.100    +    3.923
19.  Sato          Jordan Honda       (B)  1:30.914    +    4.737
20.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:31.203    +    5.026
21.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:31.286    +    5.109
22.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:33.425    +    7.248

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 00:00:50 GMT