Montoya secures pole in British GP Qualifying


Pole for JPM!

By Andrew Hooper
July 6 2002

After a tense struggle between the WilliamsF1 and Ferrari drivers it would be BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya who would secure pole for the British Grand Prix. Juan Pablo would set the fastest time in the final moments of the session. Ralf is in fourth only three tenths behind Montoya.

   
British GP Saturday Qualifying .. Pole for Montoya
 
BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya would secure his fourth pole at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Juan Pablo would take pole in the final moments of the session, prior to that it had been fought over by the Ferrari pair of Barrichello and Michael Schumacher.

Montoya on pole in Britain.Juan Pablo set brilliant time of 1m:18.998 to take the fastest time. Team-mate Ralf Schumacher would finish in fourth a little over three tenths of a second behind Juan Pablo. The performance of the WilliamsF1 drivers was even more impressive given that the general view was that the weather favoured those teams using Bridgestone tyres.

Qualifying for the British Grand Prix was run under cold but dry conditions, which would appear to favour those drivers using Bridgestone tyres. After about ten minutes it would be Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi who would finally take to the track. He would be joined by Minardi's Alex Yoong. Bernoldi would set a time of 1m:23.135, while Yoong sets a 1m:25.911. Mark Webber would join them setting a time 0.264 behind Bernoldi.

Michael Schumacher would take to the track quite early, which is unusual for him. Schumacher would set a time of 1m:19.491 to go fastest by a considerable margin. He would be joined by McLaren's David Coulthard, who would move into second but he was 1.2 seconds behind. Barrichello would come out for his first run while Jaguar driver Pedro de la Rosa would have a spin at Copse.

Raikkonen would go out on his first flying lap, finishing 1.104 behind Michael but good enough for second. As the session progresses Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella would stall at Stowe with technical problems while Renault's Jenson Button would lose his engine forcing him into the spare car. One driver to suffer from Button's engine failure was Barrichello who had to drive through the smoke and was forced to abort his lap.

So after thirty minutes of the session the top ten was Michael Schumacher, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Sato, Salo, Frentzen, Villeneuve, McNish, and Massa. Neither BMW WilliamsF1 drivers had set a time, they were joined by Barrichello, Trulli, de la Rosa, Fisichella, Button, and Irvine.

As we moved into the second half hour Montoya would take to the track and his first flying lap was good enough for second, but a second behind Michael Schumacher. Ralf Schumacher starts his first flying lap, but the time of 1m:19.4 for Michael is the time to beat. It was a second quicker than last year's pole. Ralf's first lap would beat Juan Pablo's time and see him in second only 0.430 behind the lead. His time would be half a second quicker than Montoya.

But the WilliamsF1 driver would only hold second for a short time as Barrichello would set a time of 1m:19.624 to go second, 0.133 behind Michael. Fisichella and Button, after there earlier failures were both back out on the track. Button's team-mate Trulli would set a time of 1m:20.7 to go seventh, not far off the McLaren and Williams pace. Toyota's Mika Salo would take eighth ahead of Heidfeld. Salo's time would soon be passed by BAR's Jacques Villeneuve who moved into eighth.

Coulthard would move into fourth, while fellow Briton Button is only able to set the fourteenth fastest time. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine is way down in nineteenth in the R3B. The top six were Michael Schumacher (1:19.491), Barrichello (0.1), Ralf Schumacher (0.5), Coulthard (0.9), Montoya (1.1), and Raikkonen (1.2).

But Michael Schumacher would move the goal posts even further away from his competition by setting a time of 1m:19.0, 0.449 seconds faster. Team-mate Barrichello would change his rear wing prior to going out for another attempt to take pole. BAR's Olivier Panis would move into tenth. Juan Pablo would improve and move into third with a lap of 1m:19.873. But it would be Rubens Barrichello who would go even faster than Michael by 0.010 seconds. Ralf would move into third ahead of his team-mate and only 0.3 seconds behind the Ferrari's.

With ten minutes remaining the top ten was Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard, Raikkonen, Trulli, Salo, Heidfeld, and Villeneuve. For Jaguar's De la Rosa and Minardi's Alex Yoong they both had yet to qualify. Jenson Button would move into eleventh, but his time would be beaten by Sauber's Felipe Massa with five minutes remaining.

In his final attempts Michael Schumacher would change his settings and also get a new nose. Yoong would not qualify even after a desperate attempt on his last flying lap. With the last few minutes many drivers were out in their final attempts. Michael would go fastest at the end of the first sector, but would not improve.

But in his last attempt Montoya would take to the track. In his last lap he would set a very quick lap and would go fastest to beat both Rubens and Michael. Simply amazing on the part of the WilliamsF1 driver, four races and four pole positions. So the final top six was Montoya, Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen, and Coulthard..
 
Pos. Name Team Time

1 J.P. Montoya BMW WilliamsF1 1.18.998
2 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1.19.032
3 M. Schumacher  Ferrari 1.19.042
4 R. Schumacher BMW WilliamsF1 1.19.329
5 K. Raikkonen McLaren 1.20.133
6 D. Coulthard  McLaren 1.20.315
7 J. Trulli Renault 1.20.516
8 M. Salo Toyota 1.20.995
9 J. Villeneuve BAR 1.21.130
10 N. Heidfeld Sauber 1.21.187
11 F. Massa Sauber 1.21.191
12 J. Button Renault 1.21.247
13 O. Panis BAR 1.21.274
14 T. Sato Jordan 1.21.337
15 A. McNish Toyota 1.21.382
16 H. Frentzen Arrows 1.21.416
17 G. Fisichella Jordan 1.21.636
18 E. Bernoldi Arrows 1.21.780
19 E. Irvine Jaguar 1.21.851
20 M. Webber Minardi 1.22.281
21 P. De la Rosa Jaguar 1.23.422

Not Classified
22 A. Yoong Malaysia Minardi 1.24.785
 
 
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