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Coulthard leaves Schumacher in shade

Derick Allsop
Saturday 22 June 2002 00:00 BST
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Trust a Scotsman to enjoy the day. While most of his McLaren team colleagues were bemoaning England's feeble retreat from the World Cup, David Coulthard was on top of the timesheet after the first practice sessions for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Europe here.

Coulthard confirmed his mid-season form by outpacing Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, the runaway World Championship leader, on the German's home ground. Winner in Monaco, second in Canada, Coulthard is intent on making the podium again. He has recovered from an inauspicious opening to the season to challenge for second place in the title table. He goes into this race trailing the Williams-BMW pair, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, by only one point.

The McLaren has been improved by degrees and Coulthard, having overcome the disappointment of realising that the championship would be out of reach, has responded in kind.

However, Coulthard was cautious in assessing the significance of yesterday's times. He said: "We went through our pre-planned programme but as illustrated before, Ferrari and Williams might be quicker tomorrow.''

Kimi Raikkonen underlined the improved competitiveness of the McLaren with third place. Rubens Barrichello, in the other Ferrari, was fourth, immediately ahead of Montoya and the younger Schumacher.

Michael Schumacher was seemingly content with his first day on a circuit amended and lengthened to accommodate a new complex of corners at the start of the lap. He said: "It was the usual Friday. We tried a few changes to the set-up of the car. We seem to be very competitive on all types of track and there is no reason why that should not be the case here.''

Jenson Button, who led Coulthard in the early-season standings, is under pressure from his resurgent team-mate at Renault, Jarno Trulli. The Italian again had the edge yesterday, taking seventh place, one ahead of the young Englishman.

Speculation about Button's future was stoked up yesterday by Eddie Irvine's claim that the driver was on his way out of Renault. "He wouldn't be talking to other teams if he was certain about his future,'' Irvine said.

It is understood Button visited Jaguar earlier this week for talks. If he does make the move he will be replacing Irvine.

Button declined to confirm or deny any contact with Jaguar but did say: "Anyone would explore their options. I have seen other teams in the pit lane.''

Jacques Villeneuve finished 15th, five down on his BAR Honda partner, Olivier Panis, and his fragile relationship with BAR showed further signs of cracking when he accused David Richards, the team principal, of embarrassing him.

Villeneuve is angry about reports that Richards had said that the Canadian's salary, said to be $20m (£13.4m), accounted for 25 per cent of the team budget and restricted their competitive potential.

He said: "It gets on my nerves. It's easy for David Richards to talk like that. He's been here six months, I've been here four years fighting to make the team competitive. It's unfair that he's put me in this position. I've always worked hard. I've got such a good contract because I lock myself into the team to try to give it stability.''

Some might argue the team would have been in a healthier position but for Villeneuve's drain on their resources. They are the only team without a point this season.

Richards denied he had ever publicly stated Villeneuve was paid a quarter of the team's budget. "I won't discuss drivers' salaries," he said yesterday. "I'm happy for Villeneuve to stay. He is the ideal driver.'' However, he added that the team have made 56 members of staff redundant as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX (Nuerburgring, Ger) Free practice session (for tomorrow's race): 1 D Coulthard (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1min 31.886sec; 2 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:32.041; 3 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.298; 4 R Barrichello (Br) Ferrari 1:32.969; 5 J P Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 1:33.122; 6 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:33.179; 7 J Trulli (It) Benetton-Renault 1:33.526; 8 J Button (GB) Benetton-Renault 1:33.708; 9 M Salo (Fin) Toyota 1:33.715; 10 O Panis (Fr) BAR-Honda 1:33.921; 11 N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber-Petronas 1:33.963; 12 T Sato (Japan) Jordan-Honda 1:34.136; 13 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Arrows-Cosworth 1:34.315; 14 P de la Rosa (Sp) Jaguar 1:34.322; 15 J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda 1:34.522; 16 F Massa (Br) Sauber-Petronas 1:34.680; 17 G Fisichella (It) Jordan-Honda 1:34.755; 18 A McNish (GB) Toyota 1:34.941; 19 E Bernoldi (Br) Arrows-Cosworth 1:35.260; 20 M Webber (Aus) Minardi-Asiatech 1:35.372; 21 E Irvine (GB) Jaguar 1:35.579; 22 A Yoong (Malay) Minardi-Asiatech 1:37.503.

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