Webber makes his mark

JAGUAR driver Mark Webber was a surprise quickest in the rain-hit first qualifying session for the Brazilian Grand Prix here on Friday.

Webber, second last out on the track, benefited from drying conditions to take top spot in the session from Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, who had been set to take provisional pole.

The Australian set the pace with a lap time of one minute 23.111sec one-tenth of a second quicker than Barrichello.

Barrichello finished ahead of championship-leading McLaren drivers Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Scot David Coulthard, who had taken to the track first, and claimed second and third respectively.

World champion Michael Schumacher, went out sixth on the track by which time the rain had returned briefly, spun on his out-lap and then ended the session fifth quickest.

The qualifying session had been in doubt after drivers expressed safety concerns over driving in the torrential rain during the earlier practice session.

A number of drivers signed a petition against running in similar conditions with both tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin having opted to use intermediate tyres as their wet weather selection.

But improvements in conditions prior to the start of the qualifying hour rendered the petition meaningless.

Coulthard said after his run: "In the end the conditions were okay for running. In the morning session there was a lot of standing water and lots of drivers going off.

"I don't think there was any question about running qualifying from the FIA (F1's governing body), but from the drivers point of view earlier this morning there was. Now it is fine."

Toyota driver Olivier Panis was sixth quickest behind Schumacher, with BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve seventh ahead of Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia, who like Webber ran late in drying conditions.

Renault's Fernando Alonso, who became the sport's youngest ever polesitter at the last race in Malaysia, was ninth fastest ahead of Sauber driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who completed the top-10.

Raikkonen, the first man on the circuit, completed his lap without any errors with a time of 1:24.607.

His McLaren team-mate Coulthard, however, went wide during his run and ended 0.048 seconds behind.

Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya had been almost half-a-second up on the McLaren pair after the first sector, but ran wide at turn six and completed his lap more than three seconds down on Raikkonen.

Montoya could only set the 17th best time, while his team-mate Ralf Schumacher was 13th fastest.

Barrichello moved to the head of the times after completing his lap almost 1.4 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and remained quickest until Webber's lap.

BAR's British driver Jenson Button failed to set a lap time after returning to the pit-lane following a heavy spin on his out-lap.

Afterwards Jenson Button branded conditions at the Brazilian track dangerous and said drivers considered boycotting yesterday's qualifying session in Sao Paulo.

The 23-year-old said the newly relaid Interlagos track was awash with rivers of water after being hit by a torrential downpour.

Many of the drivers signed a petition saying they should not be forced to qualify if the rain-lashed conditions during private testing and first practice continued.

But qualifying did go ahead yesterday as the rain relented to a drizzle though the track was still soaked.

"It was a joke," said Button after finishing third in practice for BAR. "Whatever you did it did not make any difference. There were rivers of water all over the track. It was pretty dangerous and it will be the same in qualifying."

Several drivers crashed out or were sent skidding and sliding on the track which was described as an ice skating rink.

The problem was compounded by the fact that as part of the cost-cutting exercise in Formula One there is just one choice of wet tyre, although drivers said the wet tyre being used in Brazil was more like an intermediate one.

"It is a big problem," added Button. "There needs to be more than one choice in the wet."

Rookie Ralph Firman said: "It was dangerous but you are out there on your own so you just have to be a bit more cautious.

"The petition was to do with if it is heavy, heavy rain. I signed it, but we should go out but just be careful."