[DarkPhenix]

The opening day of the French Grand Prix meeting at Magny Cours produced a mix of changeable conditions in which Cristiano da Matta topped the second session of free practice and ended up second quickest overall on the day. Da Matta's best lap, 1m15.518s, was just 0.03s slower than the fastest time of the first session set by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Rubens Barrichello in the narrow window before heavy rain fell. Da Matta said: "Obviously it's great to finish a session on top of the time sheets but today was a bit of a lottery and it all depended on when you managed to get your lap in and how the conditions changed. The worst thing about it, of course, is that Friday is our chance to work on set-up and tyre comparison and the variable weather makes that very difficult."

The F1 rules demand that teams must make their final tyre selections for qualifying and race by 9am on Saturday morning, but because both of today's sessions were rain-afflicted, the FIA has announced that this decision can be deferred until 12.00 noon on Saturday. In other words, the teams will now have the benefit of Saturday's free practice before they have to make up their minds.

Olivier Panis finished the session in 11th place with a lap in 1m17.303 and the Frenchman explained: "The changing conditions make it very difficult to make conclusive judgements and that's the principal reason why I did not go out with a new set of tyres to set quick times. Overall though, the car feels good and I hope that we can have a competitive weekend."

Panasonic Toyota Racing's third driver, Ricardo Zonta (1m17.735s) was 15th quickest and said: "The last time I was here was back in 2000, since when the final sector of the lap has changed. I spent some of the first session relearning that and then had a bit of a moment at Turn 3 in the second session. I was pushing a bit too hard, hit a patch of standing water that I didn't see and went straight on into the gravel trap, thankfully without any damage."

Behind Barrichello and Da Matta, Michael Schumacher set the third quickest time of the day (1m15.713s) in the second Ferrari. Mild Seven Renault F1 Team driver Jarno Trulli was fourth quickest (1m16.206s), followed by Lucky Strike BAR Honda drivers Anthony Davidson (1m16.231s) and Jenson Button (1m16.397s).

Cristiano da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/04)

First Session Classification: 10th, 5 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m26.757s (+11.270s)
Second Session Classification: 1st, 12 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m15.518 (Fastest)

"Obviously it is nice to finish top of the timesheets in the second session today, but that does not necessarily mean anything. We timed our last run to perfection and went out on a new set of tyres when the track was at its best. Our main objective for today was to carry out the tyre evaluation, which was pretty impossible in the ever-changing wet-dry track conditions. At least we have the two practice sessions tomorrow morning in order to do our back-to-back comparison before we have to make our final decision by noon. A very inconclusive day, really."

Olivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/03)

First Session Classification: 11th, 4 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m27.449s (+11.962s)
Second Session Classification: 11th, 10 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m17.303s (+1.785s)

"Due to the constantly changing weather conditions it was a quite difficult day for us. However, we tried to concentrate on our programme and hopefully we can find some valuable information from the data in preparation for tomorrow. At the end of the session we decided not to go out any more with a new set of tyres and to set some faster times. Nevertheless I am really happy with the car as it looks quite competitive. It is nice to be back racing in France in front of my home fans and I hope we can give them a good result to celebrate on Sunday. We will get a clearer indication in tomorrow's practice sessions."

Ricardo Zonta (Car 38, Chassis TF104/07)

First Session Classification: 13th, 18 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m29.085s (+13.598s)
Second Session Classification: 15th, 15 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m17.735s (+2.217s)

"We didn't obtain any meaningful results from either of today's practice sessions because the weather conditions were so changeable. My last time of running at Magny-Cours was back in 2000, so I took a few laps in the first session to learn the modifications to the final sector, which are new to me. In the second session, I made a mistake on a dry tyre run. I was carrying too much speed into the third corner and I drove through a large patch of standing water, which appeared to be dry as I was approaching it. This sent me into the gravel trap, but it was easy to get back on track and fortunately we did not lose too much time. Like everyone, the inconsistent track conditions affected our programme a lot today."

Grand Prix de France - Practice Session 1

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps kph
1 R. Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:15.487 4 210.362
2 M. Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:15.713 0.226 4 209.734
3 M. Gene BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:19.348 3.861 14 200.126
4 T. Glock Jordan Ford 1:19.428 3.941 17 199.924
5 G. Pantano Jordan Ford 1:19.466 3.979 12 199.828
6 N. Heidfeld Jordan Ford 1:20.531 5.044 12 197.186
7 G. Bruni Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:21.203 5.716 13 195.554
8 B. Leinders Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:22.267 6.780 11 193.025
9 A. Davidson Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:26.552 11.065 17 183.468
10 C. da Matta Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:26.757 11.270 5 183.035
11 O. Panis Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:27.449 11.962 4 181.586
12 J. Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:28.317 12.830 5 179.802
13 R. Zonta Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:29.085 13.598 18 178.252
14 C. Klien Jaguar Racing 1:29.626 14.139 8 177.176
15 Z. Baumgartner Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:29.877 14.390 12 176.681
16 T. Sato Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:30.092 14.605 10 176.259
17 B. Wirdheim Jaguar Racing 1:30.204 14.717 17 176.040
18 J. Trulli Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:39.392 23.905 4 159.767
19 F. Massa Sauber Petronas 3
20 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 3
21 G. Fisichella Sauber Petronas 1
22 D. Coulthard West McLaren Mercedes 1
23 J. Montoya BMW WilliamsF1 Team 3
24 K. Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes 1
25 M. Webber Jaguar Racing 1

Grand Prix de France - Practice Session 2

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Lap kph
1 C. da Matta Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:15.518 12 210.275
2 J. Trulli Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:16.206 0.688 9 208.377
3 A. Davidson Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:16.231 0.713 17 208.308
4 J. Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:16.397 0.879 8 207.856
5 M. Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:16.397 0.879 7 207.856
6 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:16.454 0.936 10 207.701
7 D. Coulthard West McLaren Mercedes 1:16.464 0.946 8 207.674
8 M. Webber Jaguar Racing 1:16.745 1.227 14 206.913
9 K. Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes 1:16.794 1.276 10 206.781
10 R. Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:17.094 1.576 5 205.977
11 O. Panis Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:17.303 1.785 10 205.420
12 G. Fisichella Sauber Petronas 1:17.324 1.806 13 205.364
13 J. Montoya BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:17.556 2.038 5 204.750
14 M. Gene BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:17.688 2.170 17 204.402
15 R. Zonta Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:17.735 2.217 15 204.278
16 C. Klien Jaguar Racing 1:17.936 2.418 10 203.751
17 T. Sato Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:17.967 2.449 11 203.670
18 F. Massa Sauber Petronas 1:18.614 3.096 7 201.994
19 G. Pantano Jordan Ford 1:18.711 3.193 10 201.745
20 B. Wirdheim Jaguar Racing 1:19.179 3.661 16 200.553
21 N. Heidfeld Jordan Ford 1:19.270 3.752 12 200.322
22 G. Bruni Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:19.349 3.831 10 200.123
23 T. Glock Jordan Ford 1:19.490 3.972 25 199.768
24 Z. Baumgartner Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:19.636 4.118 13 199.402
25 B. Leinders Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:19.914 4.396 16 198.708