Friday October 11th, 2002

By Timothy Collings

Juan Pablo Montoya followed Jacques Villeneuve's example on Friday when, after the Canadian had interrupted the morning session with a heavy slide into the barriers, he produced an equally spectacular collision in the second hour of free practice for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, on his way to fourth on the unofficial grid order for Williams-BMW.

As the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher stood idle in its garage, the World Champion having done only four laps in the post-lunch activity due to a hydraulics problem, the Italian team's greatest rivals McLaren Mercedes-Benz took advantage by clocking the two fastest laps of the day.

This meant that, after red-lights, stoppages and debris clearance, Kimi Raikkonen was fastest ahead of his McLaren teammate David Coulthard, the young Finn topping the times with a best lap in 1:34.232. Coulthard was second by almost half a second.

Rubens Barrichello, in his Ferrari, was third fastest, Montoya fourth and the two Schumachers, Ralf and Michael, fifth and sixth quickest in their Williams and Ferraris respectively, ahead of the two Jaguars of Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa. But the day belonged not so much to those who worked hard to find grip and balance, but the spectacular moments in the crashes.

In the afternoon, both Ralf Schumacher and Takuma Sato had spun off and continued before Montoya lost control of his car at the Degner Curve, his car riding over the kerbs and then plunging left into the barriers amid clouds of debris and dust. The Colombian was unhurt and walked away from the wreckage.

"He said the car just got away from him and it was rather unfortunate and it will be exchanged or repaired for tomorrow. He said he was fine, but obviously if necessary he will have a medical check when he gets back," said the team's technical director Patrick Head.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:34.232  222.383 km/h  34  
 2.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:34.730    +    0.498  29  
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:35.402    +    1.170  34  
 4.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:35.742    +    1.510  38  
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:35.995    +    1.763  44  
 6.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:36.109    +    1.877  19  
 7.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:36.190    +    1.958  25  
 8.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:36.490    +    2.258  37  
 9.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:36.529    +    2.297  37  
10.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:36.744    +    2.512  37  
11.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:36.893    +    2.661  43  
12.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:37.014    +    2.782  37  
13.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:37.196    +    2.964  45  
14.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:37.384    +    3.152  43  
15.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:37.492    +    3.260  31  
16.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:37.781    +    3.549  39  
17.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:37.927    +    3.695  23  
18.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:37.997    +    3.765  33  
19.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:38.138    +    3.906  11  
20.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:39.142    +    4.910  30  

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 05:03:28 GMT