HOCKENHEIM, Germany, 2 August 2003 — German Ralf Schumacher upstaged brother Michael on home soil here yesterday when he finished fastest in first qualifying for the German Grand Prix.
Schumacher, who failed to receive the big airhorn welcome reserved for his world champion brother, led a Williams one-two at the Hockenheim circuit as their Michelin tyres excelled in the hot conditions.
His time of 1min 14.427secs beat Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya’s lap by 0.246 secs as Michelin runners filled the top seven positions and Michael finished ninth in his Bridgestone-shod Ferrari.
Italian Jarno Trulli, of Renault, was the third fastest man on track, but his time was 0.577 seconds slower than the lead Williams.
Trulli’s Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso finished fifth, one place behind the Jaguar of Australian Mark Webber, whose new team-mate Justin Wilson finished an impressive seventh.
Championship challenger Kimi Raikkonen ended the session sixth in the McLaren, just ahead of Wilson and leading Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, who won at Silverstone two weekends ago. Frenchman Olivier Panis, of Toyota, was tenth.
Michael Schumacher came out first but his time was immediately beaten by Raikkonen and then slashed by Montoya and his younger brother, Ralf, who was slower in the first sector but picked up the pace in the next two.
Barrichello, in the second Ferrari, failed to continue the trend but he still slotted in ahead of teammate Schumacher to push the world champion down to fifth place.
Alonso then put his Renault into third behind the dominant Williams pair and, after David Coulthard, who eventually finished 11th, failed to achieve the same in the second McLaren, Trulli moved up to third in the second Renault.
Webber then split the two Renaults to move into fourth in the Jaguar but Jenson Button further underlined the problems with the Bridgestone tyres by finishing last of the first ten runners.
