| The
final qualifying session for the French Grand Prix would see Juan Pablo
Montoya in sixth and Marc Gene down in an impressive eighth. Juan Pablo
had set the fastest time in the earlier qualifying session but could not
match this as he was to make a mistake at the second chicane that would
see him lose time and fail to secure pole.
Barrichello would take to
the track to start the final qualifying session. Rubens had hydraulics
problem with his F2004 which stopped him from setting a time in the
first qualifying session. He would finish his lap with a time of
1m:14.478 to take provisional pole. Minardi's Zsolt Baumgartner was next
out and his time would be a 1m:18.247.
The
second Minardi of Gianmaria Bruni would follow and he would beat his
team-mate to move into second with a time of 1m:17.913. Jordan's Nick
Heidfeld would start his lap and cross the line with a time of 1m:16.807
to be well ahead of the Minardi's. Jordan team-mate Giorgio Pantano
would seta time that was not close to that of Heidfeld, a time of
1m:17.462.
The next group would be Fisichella, Webber, Klien, Massa, and Toyota's
Olivier Panis. Fisichella was out on the circuit and he would lose time,
half second through the second sector, to finish with a time of
1m:16.177 good enough for second. Webber would start his lap and would
be close to Rubens through out the lap to finish with a 1m:14.798 to
move into second.
Klien was next out in the second Jaguar. He would record the fastest
final sector time to record a lap of 1m:15.065 to be third fastest.
Sauber's Felipe Massa was out and he would finish his lap with a time of
1m:16.200 for fifth, less than a tenth down on his team-mate Fisichella.
Panis was next. he would record a time of 1m:15.130 to be fourth.
The next group would consist of Cristiano da Matta, Marc Gene, Sato,
Trulli, and Jenson Button. Da Matta would start his lap in the second
Toyota TF104. He would be quick through sector one, the fastest through
the final sector, to set a time of 1m:14.553 to move into second less
than a tenth down on Barrichello.
Marc Gene would start his lap he would be very quick through sector one
with a 23.9, 0.032 seconds ahead. Marc would gain time throughout the
rest of the lap to take pole with a time of 1m:14.275. Takuma Sato was
next out and in a brilliant final sector he would into pole with a time
of 1m:14.240. Just as quickly Trulli would beat Sato's time with a
1m:14.070 to move to the top of the times.
BAR's
Jenson Button was next and he would find himself on pole with a time of
1m:13.995. The final group would be Alonso, Raikkonen, Coulthard,
Michael Schumacher, and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Alonso would start his lap and he would set a sensational time of 25.6
through sector two to beat Button and take pole with a time of
1m:13.698. Would Raikkonen be able to beat that time. But in a car that
appeared to be running with a heavy fuel load would finish in sixth with
a time of 1m:14.346. Next was team-mate Coulthard. He would finish in
second with a time of 1m:13.987.
A good performance from the McLaren
team with their new car.
Now for Michael Schumacher. he would be 0.201 ahead after sector one,
but would lose time with a mistake in the final sector that would cost
him four tenths and see him in second with a time of 1m:13.971.
Montoya
would start his lap and be 0.183 ahead after sector one, loses a
fraction in the second, but would make a mistake in the second chicane
and loses half a second to finish in sixth with a time of 1m:14.172.
So Fernando Alonso would secure pole position for the 2004 French Grand
Prix, the home Grand Prix of his Renault team. |