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Friday, March 2
Ferraris make up front row
Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia – World champion Michael Schumacher
has begun the 2001 season the way he finished last year, winning
his fifth consecutive Formula One pole position Saturday at the
Australian Grand Prix.
|  | | Michael Schumacher leaves the pits during qualifying in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday. |
Schumacher, who was not injured in a spectacular accident Friday
in which his Ferrari flipped twice after spinning out of
control, will be trying to defend his Australian title Sunday and
continue a record which saw him win the last four races of 2000
from pole position en route to the drivers' title.
"It's a great achievement that Ferrari has done it again," Schumacher said. "We had a great car then and we have one now."
The 32-year-old German trailed Ferrari teammate Rubens
Barrichello with 14 minutes left in the hour-long qualifying
session over the 3.29-mile Albert Park street course before posting
a time of 1 minute, 26.892 seconds.
Barrichello was second in 1:27.263, nearly four-tenths of a
second behind Schumacher. Mika Hakkinen in a McLaren, trying to win
his fourth consecutive pole in Australia, was third in 1:27.461.
The one-two Ferrari finish in qualifying came despite both
drivers losing time in Saturday morning's practice session.
Barichello had engine trouble and Schumacher had bearing problems
that forced him to stop his car in the middle of the track for fear
of risking damage to the undercarriage.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan Honda was fourth in qualifying in
1:27.658, followed by Ralf Schumacher in his Williams in fifth in
1:27.719.
Hakkinen's McLaren teammate David Coulthard was sixth, while
Ralf Schumacher's teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, making his Formula
One debut, qualified 11th under clear, sunny skies and perfect
racing conditions.
The qualifying session was stopped with 12 minutes to go – two
minutes after Schumacher posted the fastest time – when Brazilian
driver Luciana Burti crashed heavily into the wall on turn 5. Two
tires flew from Burti's car as it slid wildly along the concrete
wall, with teammate Eddie Irvine having to drive around one of the
tires.
Burti walked away from the crash.
One of the 22 cars Saturday had originally failed to qualify – the Australian-owned European Minardi entry driven by Tarso
Marques.
Marques' time of 1:33.228 was just outside the 107 percent or
better time posted by Schumacher. But Formula One stewards later
ruled that due to unspecified "exceptional circumstances" Marques
would be allowed to compete in Sunday's 59-lap race.
Minardi's other driver, Fernando Alonso, will start 19th.
On Friday on turn 6, Schumacher lost control after trying to
brake too hard for a caution flag. His car slid sideways, hit a
patch of gravel and spun into the air, flipping twice before coming
to rest near a concrete wall.
Before rescue officials could get to Schumacher, he had lifted
his steering wheel from the car and jumped from the cockpit.
Schumacher paid credit to his team, which stayed up until 2:30
a.m. Saturday to repair his car.
"Our mechanics had a very late night and early morning due to
my little problem," said Schumacher. "They gave me a fantastic
car to work with again."
Schumacher had led most of the Saturday morning practice, but
minutes after he set his fastest lap, he slowed down and stopped on
turn 6 after hearing a grating sound – later found to be a bearing
– that was rubbing against the undercarriage.
"The car is handling well, and I didn't feel like we needed the
extra laps this morning so I decided to stop," said Schumacher.
"We feel very confident, we've done a lot of miles."
Barrichello could only manage 13th-fastest in practice after
sustaining engine failure shortly after leaving the pits and
completing only six laps in the first session.
"I had been running pretty well and I had no track time," said
Barrichello, who had the fastest practice time Friday. "But the
car is running well."
Hakkinen said he was not pleased with his third-place finish in
qualifying.
"Definitely not – it could have been better," he said. "I was
not able to complete a good lap. I always had some little problem
and lost time."
Last year, he and Coulthard qualified one-two but did not finish
the race due to mechanical problems. Neither have finished in
Australia since the controversial "arranged" finish by McLaren in
1998 when Coulthard pulled wide to let Hakkinen win the race. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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