World champion Michael Schumacher looks set for a battle with his BAR-Honda rivals in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix after he and Takuma Sato finished fastest in the two practice sessions on Friday.
Schumacher put in a lap of one minute and 14,013 seconds in the morning session to set the fastest time of the day for Ferrari, but he dropped to third in the second hour as BAR-Honda driver Sato finished with a time of 1:14,086.
Schumacher has already tipped the British team to challenge his Ferrari outfit for victory this weekend as he bids to secure his seventh win in 13 attempts at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
He led teammate Rubens Barrichello in a Ferrari one-two in the opening session but struggled in the second as he brushed the wall at turn nine and went off track again later in the session at turn eight.
Sato staked his claim for pole position as he finished 0,340 seconds ahead of second-placed Fernando Alonso, of Renault, with Schumacher third in the second session, 0,449 secs off Sato’s pace.
Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for McLaren with Barrichello fifth in the second Ferrari and Brazilian Toyota pair Ricardo Zonta and Cristiano da Matta sixth and seventh.
Briton Jenson Button, who Schumacher sees as his main threat in the second BAR, finished eighth, just ahead of McLaren’s David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella in 10th in his Sauber.
British BAR-Honda test driver Anthony Davidson finished third in the morning session but blotted his copybook in the afternoon session when he made a mistake hit the barriers at turn six and finished 12th-fastest.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished well down the order in his Williams, finishing 20th after managing to add only six laps in the second session to his first session total of 13.
Italian Giorgio Pantano was forced to leave the circuit before the first session as he attempted to solve suspected financial problems regarding the future of his Jordan drive.
The driver, who brings a financial package to the team as part of his drive, may miss the race if he fails to solve the problems and his possible replacement, German test driver Timo Glock, finished 19th. — Sapa-AFP