WilliamsF1 1st & 2nd after first qualifying

By Andrew Hooper
April 7 2004

   
Bahrain GP Saturday Qualifying Part One
 
The BMW WilliamsF1 team would be an impressive one-two after the opening qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The opening driver out for qualifying for Bahrain would be Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. Michael would set the benchmark time with a lap of 1m:30.751, which was slower than his practice time from the morning.

MontoyaNext would be BMW WilliamsF1's Juan Pablo Montoya. He would beat his championship rival setting the fastest time with a lap of 1m:30.247, which would be half a second faster than Michael. Next came BAR's Jenson Button. The driver had shown some encouraging times in practice and his lap would see him finish 0.8 seconds slower than Juan Pablo's time. Barrichello would be three tenths down after the first sector and he would continue to lose time through his lap to finish over a second slower than the fastest time.

For Renault's Jarno Trulli his lap would see him close to Juan Pablo but would lose time in the second sector. He would finish just ahead of Jenson Button. For McLaren their difficult weekend would continue with David Coulthard been over as second behind Montoya after just the first two sectors. He would finish in sixth. Next came Alonso and he too would lose time in the first sector. But at least he would have the satisfaction of beating his team-mate Trulli finishing in third.

For Sauber's Felipe Massa his time would be a massive two seconds off Juan Pablo's time. He would be in eighth. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta would be out setting a time that was half a second down after the second sector. He would finish in eighth. For rookie Christian Klein his had shown some encouraging times on Friday but in his first run he could only manage ninth with a time of 1m:31.868.

For Sauber Giancarlo Fisichella would at least lead his team-mate going sixth fastest, to be with in a second of Juan Pablo's time. For Toyota Olivier Panis would give them something to smile about finishing third after setting impressive times in the final two sectors. Jordan's Giorgio Pantano was next finishing thirteenth and three seconds slower than Juan Pablo.

Ralf SchumacherMinardi's Bruni would set the slowest time so far, five seconds behind the leader. For BAR's Takuma Sato he would set an impressive sector two to finish just 0.004 behind team-mate Button. This would be good enough for seventh. For Minardi Zolt Baumgartner would finish over half second slower than team-mate Bruni and five seconds slower than Juan Pablo.

Next would be the second McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen. After his engine change whatever grid position he secures he will lose ten places on the grid. He would be right near Juan Pablo's times throughout the lap to go second. A great effort but the best he could hope for is ten grid places further back. Jordan's second river Nick Heidfeld would finish fifteenth with just Ralf and mark Webber left to run.

For Ralf Schumacher his lap would see him lead Juan Pablo though all the sectors to finish with the provisional pole time, with a lap of 1m.29.968. A very impressive effort. The final driver was Mark Webber. The Jaguar driver would lose half a second after sector one and the rest of his lap was similar. He would finish fifteenth, to be just behind team-mate Klein.
 
P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps

1. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'29"968 216.757 Km/h
2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'30"247 + 0'00"279
3. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'30"353 + 0'00"385
4. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'30"751 + 0'00"783
5. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1'31"001 + 0'01"033
6. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'31"040 + 0'01"072
7. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'31"103 + 0'01"135
8. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'31"131 + 0'01"163
9. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 1'31"135 + 0'01"167
10. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1'31"203 + 0'01"235
11. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'31"283 + 0'01"315
12. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'31"329 + 0'01"361
13. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'31"364 + 0'01"396
14. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1'31"868 + 0'01"900
15. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'31"945 + 0'01"977
16. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1'32"152 + 0'02"184
17. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1'32"640 + 0'02"672
18. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 1'33"598 + 0'03"630
19. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 1'34"879 + 0'04"911
20. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 1'35"632 + 0'05"664
 
 
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