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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ALBundy" data-source="post: 49663" data-attributes="member: 15">Oh looks like Schumi is screwed by the weather :yahoo:  :yahoo: 23 seconds behind and he will have a monumental task to move up the grid tomorrow!Giancarlo Fisichella's lucky dayAustralian GP - Saturday qualifyingFisichella has Provisional Pole in Melbourne When Giancarlo Fisichella finished ninth and last on the lead lap for Sauber at the Brazilian Grand Prix at the end of last year, never would he have thought that the result would come back to help him in the manner it did today in the first qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix. Now with Renault, Fisichella was in the right place at the right time as he completed his qualifying lap in drying conditions just seconds before the heavens opened and Albert Park was drenched. It was certainly Fisichella’s lucky day. The story of qualifying today was of the weather conditions as the sessions started wet, dried out and then ended very wet. This created something of lottery for the drivers. Running in reverse order of the last race result, today’s first qualifying session effectively handed Giancarlo Fisichella the Pole Position on a plate as the Renault driver stopped the clocks in 1:33.171s ahead of Jarno Trulli in the Toyota and Mark Webber in the Williams. With a two second cushion over his nearest rival, Trulli looks all set to claim the Pole Position for real come second qualifying on Sunday morning. For Toyota it was a case of mixed fortunes as Trulli provisionally starts from second position while Ralf Schumacher put in a lacklustre effort in wet conditions to take 17th on the grid some 18 seconds off the pace. Over at Williams, Webber is currently third on the grid – far better than he or the team could have hoped for after a difficult weekend so far in Australia. Webber’s new team-mate Nick Heidfeld put in a poor lap and was seventh fastest, three seconds slower than Webber even though the two ran one after the other in similar conditions.   Jacques Villeneuve survived two off track moments – one 360 degree spin on his warmup lap and another off track excursion on his slow down lap in his Sauber Petronas. The 1997 Champion gambled on slick Michelin tyres mid-session before the heavy rains fell and slithered around to take the fourth position. Sauber team-mate Felipe Massa was perhaps the most unfortunate of all as he crossed the line to begin his qualifying lap just seconds after Fisichella claimed the provisional pole. Heading to turn one Massa found the circuit awash and he gingerly made his way back to the pits to park up. Christian Klien and David Coulthard benefited from good track conditions as they took the fifth and sixth best times for the new red Bull Racing team even though Coulthard’s lap was particularly conservative. With Nick Heidfeld seventh Jenson Button took the eighth position – suffering as a result of being one of the very early runners on track. Narain Karthikeyan out in a good lap in very slippery conditions to set the ninth best time in his Jordan Toyota with team-mate Tiago Monteiro four positions back in 13th. With the exception of the Minardi drivers in 15th and 16th positions, the remaining runners all completed their laps in the wettest segment of the qualifying hour. Kimi Raikkonen qualified the superb new McLaren MP4-20 in tenth position while Brazilian Grand prix runner and therefore the final runner in qualifying today Juan Pablo Montoya qualified in 11th. The team seem strong and are perhaps one of the few likely to recover from today’s qualifying lottery. Rubens Barrichello qualified 12th, six places ahead of 2004 Champion Michael Schumacher who was the first driver on track following Massa’s aborted run in monsoon conditions. For Schumacher, 25 seconds off the pace, his title defence has started in the worst possible way. With Monteiro 13th in his Jordan, Fernando Alonso had to make do with 14th position in the second Renault ahead of Christijan Albers, Patrick Friesacher and the two Schumacher’s. Felipe Massa and Takuma Sato both failed to set a time as the Brazilian parked his car back in the pit lane while the Japanese racer parked his in the wall on his out lap. A most interesting provisional qualifying session has played right into the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella and Renault. For his rivals, it was generally a case of damage limitation. For Michael Schumacher it was just a disaster.</blockquote>

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