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.