Clouds finally lift for Verstappen

Motor Sport French Grand Prix: For once, the little fish got to prowl the same pool as its largest predators yesterday as lowly Minardi snapped up a lucky weather break to claim the top of the timesheet in pre-qualifying ahead of this afternoon's grid-determining session for the French Grand Prix.

After wet weather had hampered the earlier runs of all the championship contenders, warm sunshine filtered through the clouds to rapidly dry the Circuit de Nevers and Jos Verstappen claimed the day's fastest time, some seven seconds quicker than championship leader Michael Schumacher.

Verstappen was backed up by team-mate Justin Wilson, though Minardi's joy was short-lived as immediately after the session it was revealed that after scrutiny, Wilson's car was deemed to be 2kg underweight; a breach that will erase his Friday time and leave him first man out this afternoon.

Jordan's Ralph Firman also benefited, scoring third place on the timesheets, despite an off, a placing he will hope plays into his hands this afternoon, as it is the norm that improving track conditions throughout the one-hour Saturday shoot-out benefit drivers making later runs.

Firman's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who was caught in the wet section of the hour, finished a creditable 13th given the conditions.

As for the championship contenders, Michael Schumacher had to settle for an uncharacteristically humble 12th place and main championship rival Kimi Raikkonen was buried in 17th place.

Weather conditions are expected to improve today but for once, the minnows of the grid could enjoy a chuckle at their better-funded, better-equipped team-mates and thank the fates for brief relief from their normal rear-of-grid woes.

Meanwhile, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button were forced into the pre-qualifying cold for tomorrow's race after the duo's team were only granted access to their cars and machinery an hour before the first of the weekend's crucial sessions.

The team were stunned on Thursday when the police stormed into the paddock at the Circuit de Nevers with an order to impound BAR's three race cars and all their race equipment as part of an ongoing legal battle stretching back to a sponsorship deal the team made with Canadian company Teleglobe some five years ago.

The dispute, with Monegasque company PPGI, which is due to receive a full hearing in the Monaco courts in October, escalated on Thursday with the impounding of the cars and equipment and BAR boss David Richards was yesterday morning forced to go to court in nearby Nevers in a bid to retrieve his machinery in time for the day's track action.

That bid was successful, but not until late in the morning, by which time Villeneuve and Button had lost out on the chance to take part in the one-hour free practice session which started at 11 a.m.

That meant both drivers were denied the opportunity to feel their way into a redesigned Magny Cours track which was made even trickier by the torrential rain falling across the region.

Butto, who was forced to run in the wet, ended the day in 20th position, some 9.9 seconds adrift of Verstappen. Villeneuve, though, received a small fillip in catching the cusp of the improving weather during the session and ended the day in sixth place.

But regardless of the pair's early weekend performance, Richards was delighted with the outcome of the morning court hearing.

"The order (taken against the team) was totally invalid and it has been lifted by the court this morning," he said.

Richards added that BAR could now counter-sue for damages.

"You can quite clearly see the methodology which has been used in this situation and we are now considering our position re damages," he said.

"Now we can definitely prove damage."

Richards then vented his frustration with the process, claiming delays in the court had resulted in the team's failure to make it to the morning practice session.

"It's really strange that we went into court at nine o'clock, presented our case in 10 minutes and we didn't get a judgment until 11.30, from a lay judge unfortunately, like a local magistrate," he said.

"We went into court and said there's no basis for what you've done and it took him over two hours to agree that was the case."