Sato leaves Schumacher trailing

Takuma Sato stole Michael Schumacher’s thunder in pre-qualifying for the European Grand Prix today by setting a lap record at the Nurburgring.

Sat, 29 May, 2004 - 14:05

Takuma Sato stole Michael Schumacher’s thunder in pre-qualifying for the European Grand Prix today by setting a lap record at the Nurburgring.

Schumacher had looked untouchable at the top of the timing sheets when he shattered the lap record on his home track, but Sato improved the mark by over half a second, setting a time of one minute 27.691seconds.

Williams’ Ralf Schumacher was almost a second off that pace in third, with British pair David Coulthard and Jenson Button fourth and fifth respectively. Coulthard, however, parked his McLaren on the grass on his way to the pits with an apparent mechanical failure.

Jarno Trulli was first out courtesy of his Monaco win last weekend but his time at the top of the standings was brief, with Button immediately going quicker.

Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya came close but neither man could dip below one minute 29secs.

Ralf Schumacher looked unlikely to do that after running marginally wide on turn one but he performed superbly to set the fastest lap of the weekend so far.

But he was upstaged by brother Michael, whose stunning lap was half a second faster than anyone had managed in practice before Sato became the first driver to ever lap the Nurburgring in under one minute 28secs.

Formula 1 European Grand Prix, Nurburgring, Germany

Postions after first Qualifying:

1 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR Honda 1min 27.691secs,

2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:28.278,

3 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams BMW 1:28.655,

4 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren Mercedes 1:28.717,

5 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 1:28.816,

6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 1:28.897,

7 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:29.014,

8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:29.069,

9 Juan Montoya (Col) Williams BMW 1:29.092,

10 Olivier Panis (Fra) Toyota 1:29.243,