By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
July 16 2006

Toyota drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli left their times very late in the final part of qualifying after making it through into the final ten. In fact, the they pulled of the teams best qualifying off the season with Jarno finishing fourth and Ralf ending up one place behind in fifth. Knockout One

A tweaked qualifying brought into use at this weekends French GP features the pole shoot out being shortened from 20 minutes to 15 minutes which means we lose 5 minutes of the ‘’boring’’ fuel burn phase. But it was the first knock out that was going to get under way first of all and BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld was the first driver out on track, Heidfeld thankfully recovered from his huge roll at Indianapolis two weeks ago. Heidfeld set the first time of the session; a 1.18.109, Jarno then went fastest with a 1.17.092, a relatively strong time although shortly after David Coulthard in the Red Bull Racing took over at the front with a 1.17.034, with just under 8 minutes in the knock out to go. Jarno went down to second but meanwhile Ralf was in 12th- a dangerous position to be in with the big names of Alonso, Schumacher, Massa, Fisichella and Raikkonen still yet to make their efforts. Massa went fastest on a 1.16.227, with 5 minutes to go. Michael Schumacher was also out on track trying to put his younger team mate in the shade-and he did, a good effort by the 7 times world champion with a time of 1.15.865 as Alonso went into 3rd position and Fisichella went into 6th, all this pushed Ralf into the drop zone along with Jenson Button in the Honda and both of the Williams’ of Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg and BMW-Saubers Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve. Webber went into 5th but Button could only go 14th-very dangerous. Ralf went second- saving himself from becoming a big name drop out. But Honda was in deep trouble, Christijan Albers in the Midland and Scott Speed in the Scuderia Toro Rosso both moved into the safe zone and that (rather embarrassingly) put both Hondas of Button and Rubens Barrichello in the bottom 6. Jarno went fastest! Making it a Toyota 1-2 in the first period, fantastic stuff! Barrichello moved into 15th place at the fall of the flag, he was in-just but he was very slow, Albers ahead of him. But Button was out-a real embarrassment for the British driver who has experienced so much bad luck in the past few races, and remember Honda were tipped for championship success this season. Another big name drop out was Jacques Villeneuve. The French Canadian looked strong in the mornings practice but once again it counted for nothing. Jarno finished the session 1st and Ralf 3rd-looking good for Toyota.

Top 6: Trulli, M.Schumacher, R.Schumacher, Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso

Bottom 6 and knocked out: Liuzzi, Villeneuve, Button, Monteiro, Montagny, Sato

Knockout Two

A great first period for Toyota allowed them to go through to knockout 2 and looking very strong, with both cars in the top 3 in knockout 1. The second session began with once gain BMW-Saubers, Heidfeld the first driver out on track- he was the sole remaining BMW-Sauber after Villeneuve’s exit in Knockout 1. He set an opening time of 1.16.394. Ralf was on a hot lap which rewarded him with the fastest time of 1.15.625, a good effort-underlining Toyotas pace this weekend. Jarno went second making it a Toyota 1-2 again, things were looking good. Juan Pablo Montoya announced a shock move to NASCAR last weekend driving for Chip Ganassi’s team which resulted in him being dropped by the Mclaren team before the season was out. His replacement at the team is test driver and Bahrain 2005 super-sub, Pedro De La Rosa; he put in a solid if unspectacular lap which provisionally put him into 5th. Meanwhile World Champion Fernando Alonso will be looking to put his woeful Indianapolis race behind him. The Renault man went 2nd, unable to get ahead of Ralf, Ralf ‘’sitting pretty’’ at the top spot with Jarno in 4th. Ferrari had yet to end either of their drivers out on a run. When they did it was Felipe Massa the first of the two drivers to go out but even he couldn’t get ahead of Ralf showing that Ralf’s time looked pretty good. That was until big brother came out, Michael spoiling the chances of Toyota being top in the second knockout, his time a brilliant 1.15.111. Nico Rosberg would receive a 10 place drop on the grid due to an engine change, so he would have ideally loved to get into the pole shoot out to try and get a higher position for when he received his drop. He jumped from the drop zone place of 12th to 9th, still a dangerous position and his effort put Australian team mate Mark Webber into 10th and on the edge of the drop, and with Red Bull Racings David Coulthard on a hot lap, Webber was looking venerable – and soon enough he was out- Coulthard went 10th with a good effort for Red Bull. Honda once again suffered embarrassment as Barrichello could only manage 14th on the grid, sandwiched in between Christian Klien in the Red Bull and America’s Scott Speed in the Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ralf finished the period 2nd and Jarno 6th, both through to the pole shoot-out and Toyota looking strong for a shot at pole.

Top 6: M.Schumacher, R.Schumacher, Massa, Alonso, Raikkonen, Trulli

Bottom 6 and Knocked out: Webber, Heidfeld, Klien, Barrichello, Speed, Albers

Final Pole Shoot-Out

Toyota had thankfully made it through the pole shoot out and both Jarno and Ralf were showing good pace. The final phase of qualifying had been shortened by 5minutes which means we lose some of the ‘’boring’’ stages of the fuel burning time. Ralf and Jarno would fight it out for the pole with the two Renaults, the two Ferraris, the two Mclarens, and Nico Rosberg in the Williams and David Coulthard in the Red Bull. Some of the fuel burning time had gone but that phase of qualifying would remain even if it was slightly reduced. Alonso and Michael Schumacher were treating this final stage of qualifying like the race! Both drivers fighting for track position, exciting stuff to see in a qualifying session. Schumacher set the first time of the period with a 1.17.777, the proper laps though of course yet to begin. Ralf and Jarno meanwhile were looking good in 6th and 7th places respectively. Jarno then started to move up the order slightly going into5th only for Ralf to go 5th pretty much straight after Jarno, a in-house Toyota battle was forming. De La Rosa was sitting in8th place and he was the first driver to ‘’blink’’ coming into the pits for a new set of tires and going out to set a proper lap towards pole position. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen followed suit as did the reigning world champion. The pole battle would begin with just under 7 minutes to go. De La Rosa set the first proper time going fastest with a time of 1.16.632; but the Ferrari’s could go much quicker as could the Toyotas. Alonso went fastest with a 1.16.032 but Schumacher took it away from his Spanish rival pretty sharply with a 1.15.770, team mate Felipe Massa went second locking out the front row for Ferrari. Jarno and Ralf were 7th and 8th but had still yet to set a lap that counted. Raikkonen moved up into 4th, splitting the two Renaults of Alonso and Fisichella. Jarno then 4th, a great effort meanwhile the battle with Alonso and the two Ferraris took another twist as Alonso went 2nd as Schumacher improved his time to a 1.15.493, raising the bar higher. Massa then went second taking second away fro Alonso and upsetting the Renault party. Ralf moved into 5th slotting in behind Jarno, a great effort from the Toyota boys!

Top 10: : M.Schumacher, Massa, Alonso, Trulli, R.Schumacher, Raikkonen, Fisichella, De La Rosa, Coulthard, Rosberg.

Notes

Nico Rosberg will start tomorrow’s race from 20th on the grid due to an engine change, allowing team mate Mark Webber to move into the top 10.