Agnelli's Death Casts Shadow Over Friday Sessions
By Ferrari Press Release
May 30 2004
On the coolest day of the 2004 season so far, Kimi Raikkonen topped the time sheet for McLaren-Mercedes, the first time he has done so since Malaysia on Friday, with a time of 1.29.355.
It is looking like being a closely contested weekend, with everyone down to eleventh placed Montoya on the same second.
Jenson Button was second for BAR-Honda (1.29.618) with last year’s European GP winner, Ralf Schumacher third in 1.29.677.) David Coulthard ended up fourth in the second McLaren-Mercedes (1.29.700) with Monaco winner Jarno Trulli fifth for Renault (1.29.919.) Rubens Barrichello was the best placed Ferrari in sixth spot (1.29.943.) The Brazilian completed 24 laps in the afternoon, while team-mate Michael Schumacher only managed 9, as he was sidelined by an hydraulic problem. This explains why his best time was a 1.30.227, putting him ninth.
Michael Schumacher (Driver):
"I was shocked this morning to hear of the death of Umberto Agnelli. Our thoughts are with his family, especially his son Andrea. I have so many memories of Mr. Agnelli, who always supported us and with whom I spent many happy times. Here at the circuit, my day was slightly handicapped by a hydraulic problem and we will now have to investigate to see what caused it. In general, we have enough data to make a tyre choice thanks to the work done by Rubens."
Rubens Barrichello (Driver):
"Over the years I have been with Ferrari, I have come to know the Agnelli family and I have a good friend in Andrea. News of the death of his father hit me hard, so at this difficult time my thoughts are with Andrea and his family. From a work point of view, I can say that it was a good day for me. We gathered sufficient data, so now we must prepare as well as possible for qualifying and the race. From what we have seen today it will however be a very tough weekend."
Ross Brawn (Technical Director):
"The second session was not so good for us as we had a hydraulic problem on Michael’s car which curtailed his running. So we did not get much work done on that car. Rubens worked on a tyre comparison programme, so we will be able to study all the data to decide which type to use for the rest of the weekend. As usual we have one that has better performance over the opening lap and is less consistent and the second where the opposite applies. So we have to weigh up the various strategic options in order to make the best choice."
Jean Todt (General Director):
"This is no ordinary day as the tragic death of Umberto Agnelli has touched us deeply. This morning the whole team got together to ensure we could focus on doing the best job possible, but naturally our thoughts were with the Agnelli family. As for the day on track, we carried out the usual set-up and tyre programme. Now we have to study the data to get the most out of our package, taking into consideration the demands of one-lap qualifying and the race."