McLaren get first and second row for Brazil

By Parminio
April 5 2003

The story going into this weekend was about how much Williams had improved and how even Schumacher himself said that Williams were his biggest threat for Brazil.

West McLaren Mercedes did better in today’s qualifying than they’ve done all year. That, and knowing the typical strategy of McLaren, bodes well for McLaren’s chances tomorrow. With David on the front row, and Kimi on the second, and Mike Schumacher on the 4th…things couldn’t have been planned any better.

Rubens Barrichello won the pole, just .011 seconds quicker than DC. It’s a very big race for Rubens, as he has never won his home Grand Prix, and has finished it only once…with a 4th place effort.

Schumi was looking good through the first sector, but seemed to suffer from quite a bit of under steer through the all important second sector. The second sector of the track being the tightest part, and most difficult to navigate, suggest that Schumi may be carrying a bit more gas…so we’ll have to see about the pit strategy on that one. Everyone typically running a two stop strategy here, if Michael can run a few more laps than anyone else over the first stint, that will put him in good shape.

At any rate, the surprise of the day was Mark Webber, who drove the wheels off of his Jaguar to park it 3rd on the grid. Well done Mark! Practically admitting that he was a bit light on fuel, it appears that he is trying the same strategy as Renault in Malaysia. If it works out for Webber and Jaguar, they could be looking at a podium.

It’s going to be a VERY interesting race to say the least. If everyone gets through the first turn clean, it will be up to launch control to see where the chips fall. After that, it’s all down to strategy…and frankly, I think McLaren are in the drivers seat for this one.