DC Takes Pole

[EERO]

A brilliant run at the end of the session denies MSchumacher his eighth consecutive Pole.


Good for Ralfie to nail third, (Sorry Moffat, your curse was ineffective)

P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps
1. 4 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes B 1'23"054 213.822 Km/h
2. 3 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes B 1'23"282 + 0'00"228
3. 5 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'23"357 + 0'00"303
4. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'23"593 + 0'00"539
5. 12 TRULLI Jordan Honda B 1'23"658 + 0'00"604
6. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'23"786 + 0'00"732
7. 6 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'24"141 + 0'01"087
8. 9 PANIS BAR Honda B 1'24"213 + 0'01"159
9. 11 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda B 1'24"436 + 0'01"382
10. 17 RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas B 1'24"671 + 0'01"617
11. 10 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'24"769 + 0'01"715
12. 16 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'25"007 + 0'01"953
13. 18 IRVINE Jaguar M 1'25"392 + 0'02"338
14. 22 ALESI Prost Acer M 1'25"411 + 0'02"357
15. 19 BURTI Jaguar M 1'25"572 + 0'02"518
16. 15 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech B 1'25"872 + 0'02"818
17. 14 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Asiatech B 1'26"062 + 0'03"008
18. 21 ALONSO Minardi European M 1'26"855 + 0'03"801
19. 7 FISICHELLA Benetton Renault M 1'26"902 + 0'03"848
20. 23 MAZZACANE Prost Acer M 1'27"750 + 0'04"696
21. 8 BUTTON Benetton Renault M 1'27"758 + 0'04"704
22. 20 MARQUES Minardi European M 1'28"281 + 0'05"227


107% time : 1'28"867


Results courtesy of F1-Live

[Airhead]

EERO not to worry,

Ralfie is yet to transfer the promise of qualifying to the race. DC, go you good thing!

[EERO]

I swear, Moffat, some day you will say to Ralf's Girl and myself that you were wrong and I shall print it out, frame it and mail it back to you.

DC seems to be sustaining the momentum that he developed early last season. I hope he is able to sustain it. I will say that the promise of the first two races of a Ferrari walkover seems to have waned for the time being. The potential of three or four teams mixing it up is thrilling.


Great efforts as well from Panis (8th) and Raikkonen (10th).
This is the fourth and final race of the young Finn's probationary period, I think he has proven his worth.

[laxman]

It ws certainly a great qualifying and congradulations to dc on that wonderful last run.I thought mika would qualify ahead of him.BTW i have heard that the ferrari'sare using a harder compound of bridgestone that the others.Thats why there did two laps in a row to get them working.COuld we expect a possible one stopper from TGF then???
It will ceratinly be a great race.
BTW where are the JPM fans now.I think RS outdrove him in every sector.

[EERO]

Good point about JPM, lax, as this is the first track this season that he has seen before. I wouldn't write him off for the race though. He could come storming through. I still expect that the race will be between TGF and the McLarens. The prospect of Mika running interference for DC at some point menas that the payback hinted at in '98 might fiinally come to fruition.

[carbonfibre]

That was a thoroughly fantastic and enjoyable qualifying session. Congrats to DC, Hakk and Ralf. Nice job of sandbagging by McLaren too.

Montoya is a star of tomorrow here today. JPM had virtually zero dry track practice time on Friday, and I find his performance very encouraging. So put me down as someone who sees what Montoya is going to be about, for many years to come: excitement!

Note to Williams: better put the Keep Your Distance wing back on the cars for the race - Rubens is BEHIND Ralf and Jos behind JPM!! Yikes!

[LYM]

Some people only believe in what they see, but I for one believe in Ralf's championship potential though nothing happens yet.

Well done DC! What a refreshing line-up it would tomorrow.

BTW, I think it proves once again the BMW and Mercedes engines are going to do them a lot of good for the rest of the season-any opinion?

[Mania]

It was definately an exciting session. But it was a totally unexpected result, at least in my point of view. By that I mean, Coulthard taking pole on a truly stunning lap and Michael down in 4th. Great run by Ralf once again. He looks set for a podium position and possiblt even a win if things fall into place for Williams tomorrow.

First corner should be interesting - Im picking Hakkinen to get the jump on DC and lead into the firsr corner. Beyond that, if Ralf makes a good start he may even jump up to 2nd. DC isent really known for his brilliant starts especially when he's on the front row.

Dont write of Michael Schumacher though. Their tyre strategy has the potential to be a race winning one - or it could also blow up on their face.

Definately interesting situtation...

[Billy_Hunt]

Nice to see DC in such good form !
Ferrari's choice of tyre could well back fire if it's as sunny as it was for the F3000 race, here's hoping
No doubt Ferrari will have all the clever engine mapping working too full effect for the start.

[Minardi fan]

Well done David - as long as we see someone other than TGF or Rubens on pole I'm a happy bunny. Top stuff from Kimi too, definitely proving he deserves his super license.

And of course, special mention to Fernando the Great, outqualifying both the Benettons and Marzipan - who, remember, has a spankingly-good Ferrari engine in the back of his car, and not a four year old Ford lump.

GO FERNANDO! GO KIMI! GO MINARDI!

P.S Paul mate, dump Tarso - BRING IN LUCA!!!

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally posted by EERO
I swear, Moffat, some day you will say to Ralf's Girl and myself that you were wrong and I shall print it out, frame it and mail it back to you.

Well, Ralf did it again - being quicker than both Ferraris is significant for Williams, because so far it's been one or both Ferraris that have kept Ralf off pole.

Damn...for a few minutes I was thinking Barrichello would qualify far enough down for him to not run into Ralf tomorrow, but unfortunately it's still a possibility.

Not forgetting a special mention for Saint Fernando (He Can Do No Wrong, right Bella? ) for qualifying 18th...shall we all pool together and give him a payrise?

And yes M-fan...go Kimi!

[DancingMachine]

the fact is the track was goin quicker n quicker as the session was ending..while Dc n mika took this advantage, MS screwed his last run n Rubens got caught in trafic. lets see if they can fight back tommorow

[Tristan]

DO NOT WRITE-OFF FERRARI. Don't forget, they were the only team on the hard compound tyre. It could well pay off. Or go hideously wrong!!

Still, not bad at all from DC. Finally he's showing to be a reasonable driver after all these years of inconsistensy. I remember not too long ago MIKA was king of the qualifying run. No more it seems.

Panis had another good session in the, by all accounts, mediocre BAR. JV must now be beginning to worry about his position of team leader.

and finally, well done that man Alonso, outqualifying BOTH Benettons.

[Bononi]

Well Done DC !!!

For the first time after so long, we won't see TGF at the
press conference post qualifying !!!

Sign of the times ?????

[Wrex]

It seemed to be a great day for the No. 2's (or is it called 1a now ) - COULTHARD, TRULLI, PANIS, RAIKKONEN & BERNOLDI.

Top Stuff

[Airhead]

To EERO an RG,

No I will not.

The pretender will be shown for what he is in the harsh light of competition. Ralf, where ya gunna run to now?

[carbonfibre]

Originally posted by Tristan
DO NOT WRITE-OFF FERRARI.

No one is really writing-off Ferrari, at least I know I'm not. It's just that many, except for TGF zealots, are ECSTATIC that we have some great competition now, when after Sepang some were predicting 17 straight Ferrari wins for 2001. And many had already written off McLaren, but they're BACK!!

Since many Ferrari fans are apparently privvy to their tire choices - LOL - I thought I'd share McLaren's Team Orders for today:

1. No jumpstarts and no stalls
2. Clean and fast start
3. No contact between team cars - hear that David?
4. Watch out when lapping Rubens and Jos
5. May the best McLaren man win!!
6. A McLaren 1-2
7. Good luck and good racing!!

Sincerely,
Ron Dennis



Regards, CF

[Wrex]

You are a bad man Moff, a very bad man.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally posted by AMoffat
Ralfie is yet to transfer the promise of qualifying to the race.

Never mind, Moffat. We're all wrong - very wrong - sometimes.

[Tristan]

Tee hee!!

[EERO]

Moffat, shall I send it FedEx, or DHL?