Button impresses in practice

Jenson Button’s pole position hopes were lifted today when the Englishman clocked the fastest lap so far in practice for the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

Button recorded a lap of one minute 28.827 seconds to take top spot in the final practice session before qualifying later today.

His effort was not only the fastest so far this weekend, it beat Kimi Raikkonen’s pole position time of last season by almost three seconds.

World champion Michael Schumacher registered his best effort so far on his home track, but that was still nearly a quarter of a second adrift of Button.

Raikkonen was half a second off the pace in third, having surprisingly set the fastest time for McLaren.

Takuma Sato emphasised BAR’s strength this weekend by taking third place in the closing stages, 0.3secs behind team-mate Button, while Scotsman David Coulthard ended the session seventh, just over a second slower than Button.

Coulthard briefly held top spot early in the session before Schumacher and then Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello took over.

Raikkonen repeated the speed he showed yesterday to again go fastest and Coulthard offered even more hope for McLaren by moving up to second.

But Schumacher soon asserted his authority before Juan Pablo Montoya’s first attempt at a flying lap ended with a spin.

Button became the first man to dip below 1min 29secs with eight minutes remaining in the session, chopping half a second off Schumacher’s time in the process.

The German six-time world champion improved but could not better Button’s effort, while Sato left it late to pip Raikkonen’s McLaren to third.

Button set the pace in today’s first practice with a lap of one minute 29.485 seconds.

The Englishman was 0.707secs faster than nearest challenger Ralf Schumacher, with Sato third. Michael Schumacher was less than a second behind Button in fifth.

After 30 minutes of the first session only six drivers had bothered to set a fast time, with Schumacher the fastest.

The last 15 minutes saw more action, with the Williams duo of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya showing well.

Button took over as the fastest man with time almost up as Michael Schumacher pushed slightly too hard and drifted across the grass.

Jaguar’s Mark Webber, who will have a second added to his qualifying time after a yellow flag infringement yesterday, left it until the penultimate minute to set a lap time, ending the session 14th.

Coulthard did not complete a flying lap.