Webber maintains 3rd on Monaco Grid


Mark in Third

By Andrew Hooper
May 22 2005

BMW WilliamsF1 driver Mark Webber would maintain his third place on the Monaco grid after the final qualifying session. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld was in sixth in a session that would see Raikkonen secure pole.

 
Monaco GP Sunday Qualifying
 

For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the final qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix would see both Mark and Nick maintain their positions from Saturday, Mark in third while Nick was down in ninth.

WebberThe final qualifying runs for the Monaco Grand Prix would see Ralf Schumacher, after his Saturday crash, should come out first to qualify. But given the fact that he failed to set a time there was little point in the Toyota driver taking to the track. Joining him was Juan Pablo Montoya who would be sent to the rear of the grid after been penalised for his practice error.

But Ralf did come out and went straight back to the pit lane and parc ferme. Next came Jordan's Narain Karthikeyan qand he would complete his lap with a time of 1m:23.968. Team-mate Tiago Monteiro was next out and after sector one he would be three tenths down on his team-mates time. He would pull back time in the next two sectors to finish with a time of 1m:23.670 to go fastest.

Minardi's Christijan Albers would start his flying lap and was a second up on Monteiro's time after the second sector. He would finish with a time of 1m:22.977 to go to the top of the times. The second Minardi of Patrick Friesacher was next and the Austrian was 1.1 seconds ahead after sector one, another four tenths up after sector two, and would cross the line with a time of 1m:22.236 to beat his team-mate.

The next group of drivers was made up of Liuzzi, Massa, Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, and Villeneuve. Liuzzi would start his lap and was 2.2 seconds ahead after sector one, 2.7 seconds after sector two, and finishes with a time of 1m:20.335 to take provisional pole. Now it was Massa's turn and the Sauber driver would extend his lead over Liuzzi after sector one by three tenths. After sector two he was almost two seconds up and would cross the line with a time of 1m:18.902 to go fastest.

HeidfeldNow it was the turn of Michael Schumacher. A time of 1m:18.550 for the Ferrari driver would see him go fastest but the F2005 is still struggling at Monaco. Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello was next out and the Brazilian was down on his team-mates time finishing his lap with a time of 1m:18.841 to move into second. Jacques Villeneuve would start his lap having a two tenth lead over Rubens. After sector one he would maintain this lead but sector two would see him drop time to Michael and would cross the line with a time of 1m:19.105 to move into second.

The next group of drivers was Coulthard, Trulli, Heidfeld, Montoya, and Fisichella.
Coulthard was on the track and his lap would see him extend his lead of eight tenths to a full second after sector one. He would lose time in the second but would still cross the line with a time of 1m:18.538 to put him on top. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was next and the Italian would extend his lead over David by a one tenth in sector one. Sector two would see him increase this to now be a full second. He would cross the line with a time of 1m:17.401 and provisional pole.

BMW WilliamsF1 driver Nick Heidfeld was next and he would maintain his one tenth lead after sector one. Nick would drop three tenths through sector two to finish with a time of 1m:17.755 to be in second. After his penalty Montoya would not go out for his qualifying run as he will start from the rear of the grid anyway. Fisichella was out on the circuit in the first of the Renaults. Fisichella had a four tenth advantage over Trulli as he started his lap. He would lose a tenth after sector one, but with a 1m:17.317 Fisichella would secure on provisional pole.

WebberThere were just the top three men left to run; Mark Webber, Alonso, and Raikkonen. Mark only had a one tenth lead over Fisichella so he was going to find it difficult to maintain his third place. But he would start his lap and would pull out an extra two tenths after sector one, matches the Renault driver in the second, and crosses the line with a time of 1m:17.072 to go fastest. Now it was Alonso's turn and the Spaniard was able to increase his lead over Mark in sector one to be eight tenths up. After sector two he was 1.1 seconds up. He would
finish his lap with a stunning time of 1:16.281 to move into top spot.

Now it was all down to Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi was four tenths ahead of Alonso prior to the start of his lap and would drop three tenths after sector one. After sector two he was still one tenth up on the Spaniard. The final sector would see Kimi just hold onto his lead finishing with a time of 1m:16.679, which would be good enough to see him take pole for the Monaco Grand Prix.

 
Pos       Driver        Team                   Total Time
 1.  (18) Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  2:30.323
 2.  (17) Alonso        Renault           (M)  2:30.406
 3.  (16) Webber        WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  2:31.656
 4.  (15) Fisichella    Renault           (M)  2:32.100
 5.  (12) Trulli        Toyota            (M)  2:32.590
 6.  (13) Heidfeld      WilliamsF1-BMW    (M)  2:32.883
 7.  (11) Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  2:33.867
 8.   (8) M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  2:34.736
 9.  (10) Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  2:34.936
10.   (9) Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  2:34.983
11.   (7) Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  2:35.120
12.   (6) Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  2:37.152
13.   (5) Freisacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  2:40.810
14.   (4) Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  2:42.206
15.   (3) Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  2:43.078
16.   (2) Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  2:43.442
17.   (1) R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  No Time    
18.  (14) Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  No Time
 
Message Board

Bookmark or share this story with: