WilliamsF1 Monaco Thursday Qualifying


Ralf sixth ...

By Andrew Hooper
May 29 2003

After the opening qualifying for the 2003 Monaco GP Falf and Juan Pablo would be 6th and 8th respectively. This would be a reversal of their Thursday practice times where Juan pablo was fastest. There times were encouraging but well over half a second behind the fastest time of Michael Schumacher.

   
Monaco GP Thursday Qualifying
 
For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the opening qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix would see Ralf and Juan Pablo finish sixth and eighth respectively. This is an encouraging start to the weekend but both drivers were well over half a second slower than the fastest time set by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

Qualify would start with McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen been the first driver out and, while Michael Schumacher was getting ready to leave pit lane, Kimi would set a time of 1m:17.926. For Michael his time would be more than a second and a half quicker than the Finn putting him in provisional pole. Team-mate Barrichello would move into third, three tenths off Michael's time.

For Renault's Fernando Alonso his time was very disappointing for the Spaniard as he finished in fourth, over two seconds off the pace. Next was McLaren's David Coulthard who would go third, four tenths behind Barrichello.

Next would be BMW WilliamsF1 driver Ralf Schumacher, who had only set the fifteenth fastest time in the morning practice, would move into fourth after a small mistake in the first section with a lap time of 1m:17.063. Next came Juan Pablo who would go fifth fastest.

For Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella he would finish ahead of Montoya. Next was Renault's Jarno Trulli with the Italian setting a quick time to move into third, leaving his team-mate Alonso far behind him. After his second fastest time in practice BAR's Jenson Button would continue his good showing by moving into third with a lap time of 1m:16.895.

For Sauber's Heinz Harald Frentzen his qualifying would end without setting a time as he would stop in the first sector with what appeared to be engine failure in his C22. A small puff of blue smoke was seen coming from the back of his car and shortly there after his engine would fail.

Frentzen's failure resulted in a short break while his car was retrieved and the oil he left on the track was cleaned up. Next was Jaguar's Mark Webber who, after setting fastest time in practice, could only manage ninth possibly as a result of the change in the track conditions after Frentzen's engine failure.

BAR's Jacques Villeneuve would finish way down on Button's time in eleventh. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta was thirteenth. For Sauber's' Nick Heidfeld tenth was an encouraging time putting him ahead of the likes of Kimi Raikkonen. The last group of drivers would see Ralph Firman go first with his time seeing him move into thirteenth ahead of Alonso but a second slower than his team-mate Fisichella.

Pizzonia would finish fifteenth while Toyota's Olivier Panis would have a difficult time like his team-mare da Matta, only managing sixteenth. The two Minardi drivers were last with Verstappen going sixteenth pushing the two Toyota drivers to the bottom of the times. Even Justin Wilson was able to set a time faster than the Toyota pair going seventeenth fastest..
 
P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'16"305 157.578 Km/h
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'16"636 + 0'00"331
3. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'16"895 + 0'00"590
4. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'16"905 + 0'00"600
5. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'17"059 + 0'00"754
6. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'17"063 + 0'00"758
7. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'17"080 + 0'00"775
8. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'17"108 + 0'00"803
9. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'17"637 + 0'01"332
10. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'17"912 + 0'01"607
11. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'17"926 + 0'01"621
12. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'18"109 + 0'01"804
13. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'18"286 + 0'01"981
14. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'18"370 + 0'02"065
15. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'18"967 + 0'02"662
16. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'19"421 + 0'03"116
17. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 1'19"680 + 0'03"375
18. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'19"903 + 0'03"598
19. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'20"374 + 0'04"069
20. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'34"110 + 0'17"805 
 
 
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