Pole position for Ralf in Canada
Ralf in pole!
By Andrew Hooper
June 12 2004
Pole position for the Canadian GP was secured by BMW WilliamsF1 driver Ralf Schumacher. Team-mate Juan Pablo is in fourth. This is a great result for the team after having struggled during the various practice sessions. All the team has to do is use this performance to produce a good race result.
| |
|
|
Canadian GP Saturday Final Qualifying |
| |
|
In what was an amazing turn around the BMW WilliamsF1 team would secure
pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, courtesy of a great lap by
Ralf Schumacher. Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya was in fourth. After
having looked to be very much out of contention for the Grand Prix,
based on the teams practice results, this result is a major boost for
the team.
After
the earlier qualifying session the BMW WilliamsF1 team would occupy the
top two times. Now the teams would commence their final qualifying runs.
Minardi's Bruni was first out but he would not attempt his run
preferring to put his car in parc ferme. His team-mate Zsolt Baumgartner
was next out and he could only manage a time of 1m:17.064. Jordan rookie
Timo Glock was next and his time of 1:16.323 would see him at the top of
the times but not for long. Jordan's Nick Heidfeld was next and he would
go faster than his team-mate taking provisional pole with a time of
1m:15.321.
Jaguar's Christian Klien would push Heidfeld down the order moving to
the top of the times with a lap of 1m:14.532. Team-mate Mark Webber was
next out and in a lap that would see him lock brakes he would not beat
Christian, finishing second by 0.6
seconds.
Massa should have been next but he elected not to run returning to his
pits, forcing him to start from the rear of the grid. It was found out
that he had a rear tyre which had been punctured forcing him not to run.
Next qualifier was Toyota's Olivier Panis and his lap would see him
finish in second with a time of 1m:14.891. Klein was still at the top of
the times. Toyota team-mate Da Matta was next out and his time,
1m:14.851, would also not be good enough
to beat Klein. He would be second.
The Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello was out and he would easily set the
fastest first sector time of 20.4 seconds, loses some time in the second
at Turn six, but takes provisional pole with a time of 1m:13.562. This
was 0.97 seconds ahead of Klein. This would leave ten drivers yet to
complete their runs.
Sauber's Fisichella would start his run and would lose time to Rubens
straight away been six tenths down in sector one. His time of 1m:14.674
would see him behind Klien in third position. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen
would start his fast lap, 20.6 in the first sector, 23.4 in the second,
but his time of 1m:13.595 was 0.033 seconds behind Rubens. Kimi would
move into second.
Rubens
team-mate Michael was next and he would improve on Rubens time with a
lap of 1m:13.355 giving us a Ferrari One-Two. BAR's Jenson Button was
next and his first sector time of 20.2 seconds was the fastest so far.
He would do a 23.0 seconds for sector two and his time of 1m:12.341
would be a full second faster than Michael Schumacher, securing
provisional pole. For David Coulthard his time of 1m:13.681 would only
be good enough for fifth position. David would brush the wall on the
exit of the final turn.
So it was now down to the final five drivers, including Ralf and Juan
Pablo. The first of these five was Renault's Jarno Trulli. But he would
be two tenths down after the first sector, in the the second sector he
was down by nearly seven tenths. He would end up been 0.682 seconds
behind Button's pole time, a lap time of 1m:13.023. Sato was next and
the BAR driver was a tenth up on his team-mate in the first sector. But
he would lose six tenths in the second sector. But his lap would fall
apart when he was to spin at the final chicane finishing in fourteenth.
Renault's Fernando Alonso was next but he would be almost a full second
behind the the pole time. His lap of 1m:13.308 was only good enough for
third. Now it was the turn of Juan Pablo and Ralf. But for Juan Pablo
his lap would be untidy locking up at the hairpin. He would move into
into third position with a time of 1m:13.072. Now it was all down to
Ralf. He would only be a tenth down after the first sector, equal in the
second, and as he crossed the finish line his time would be a 1m:12.275
to secure pole position by 0.066 seconds from second placed Button.
This was a great result from the BMW WilliamsF1 team to have their drivers
in first and fourth. This time around it was Ralf who put one over on
Juan Pablo in qualifying. |
| |
P. No
Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps Laps
1. 4 R. SCHUMACHER WilliamsF1 BMW M 1'12"275 217.220 Km/h 3
2. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'12"341 + 0'00"066 3
3. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'13"023 + 0'00"748 3
4. 3 MONTOYA WilliamsF1 BMW M 1'13"072 + 0'00"797 3
5. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'13"308 + 0'01"033 3
6. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'13"355 + 0'01"080 3
7. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'13"562 + 0'01"287 3
8. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'13"595 + 0'01"320 3
9. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'13"681 + 0'01"406 3
10. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1'14"532 + 0'02"257 3
11. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1'14"674 + 0'02"399 3
12. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'14"851 + 0'02"576 3
13. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1'14"891 + 0'02"616 3
14. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'15"148 + 0'02"873 3
15. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1'15"321 + 0'03"046 3
16. 39 GLOCK Jordan Ford B 1'16"323 + 0'04"048 3
17. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 1'17"004 + 0'04"729 3
18. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 1'17"064 + 0'04"789 3 |
| |
| |
 |
| |
 |
|
Click image for HP F1 Site |
Bookmark or share this story with: