Montoya secures pole for Canadian GP

Qualifying would see the temperature slightly below 20 degrees, which was significantly higher than in the morning. But some in the paddock feel that it might begin to rain in the afternoon during qualifying. For BAR's Jacques Villeneuve this race is in front of his home crowd, but it is especially important as BAR are the only team without points so far this season and a good grid position would be vital in their quest for a solid race performance.

Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya would be the first two drivers on the track today. Ralf would be the first to set a quick time and his time was 21.041sec at T1. Juan Pablo would post a 21.019sec at T1. Ralf's final time would be 1m:14.931 and Juan Pablo would set a time of 1m:14.341, 0.590 ahead of his team-mate. The fact that these times were set so early must be to ensure they have a time should begin to rain.

Felipe Massa would takes to a quick lap, and he was joined by Sauber team-mate Heidfeld. Heidfeld's lap was good enough for third, 0.6 behind Montoya. Massa would move into fourth. The session would see more cars take to the track. Renault's Jenson Button on his first run would set a time 0.951 behind Montoya, but it was ahead of Massa. Arrows driver Bernoldi would move into fifth, also ahead of Massa.

McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen would set a time of 1m:14.394 and was 0.05 secs behind Montoya in second. David Coulthard would move into third with a time of 1m:14.534. Olivier Panis would post a 1m:15.5 to take tenth.

Michael Schumacher would take to the track, while Trulli would go fifth and Fisichella fourth. Jacques Villeneuve would set a time that would see him in ninth, a lap of 1m:15.357, and ahead of Panis.

Michael Schumacher would set a new best time with his first flying lap. He was 0.940 secs ahead at T2. Michael would go first with a lap of 1m:13.331. Team-mate Barrichello also clocks a very fast time 1m:13.655 to take second. Montoya takes to his second run and now he will have a faster track thanks to more rubber on the asphalt. Montoya leads after two sectors. This could be a new best, a 1m:12.8 and he leads by 0.495 secs. Ralf Schumacher was now up in second.

Raikkonen was up in fifth now. With thirty minutes complete the order is Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Fisichella, Trulli, Massa, Sato, de la Rosa, Salo, Bernoldi, Button, Villeneuve, McNish, Webber, Panis, Irvine, Frentzen, Yoong.

Sato would blow his engine, forcing him to use the spare car. With twenty five minutes remaining there were no cars on the track because there are oil flags after the Sato blow. The top six were Montoya (1m:12.836), Ralf Schumacher (0.5), Michael Schumacher (0.5), Barrichello (0.8), Raikkonen (1.2), and Nick Heidfeld (1.3).

Heinz Harald Frentzen would take to the track only to set the twenty first fastest time. He would finish way down in nineteenth. Ralf would be forced to change to  the spare car. Villeneuve was in sixteenth, obviously a disappointment with the new BAR chassis. He would improve to eleventh and finish qualifying in ninth. Both Ferraris were on flying laps as Trulli would hit a barrier braking his suspension. He would get back into the garage where he would change into the spare car.

Michael Schumacher completes his second flying lap, setting a time good enough for second, 0.278 behind Montoya. Barrichello was also able to improve moving into third, only 0.1 behind his team-mate now. Panis was in tenth for BAR. Both Toyota drivers were way down the times and they were only able to set the eighteenth and twentieth fastest times, with Salo quicker than McNish.

With fifteen minutes left we had Nick Heidfeld in a strong sixth, splitting up the McLaren's. Ralf Schumacher, in the spare car, and Montoya would go out for their third runs, but they could not improve on their earlier times. Michael Schumacher would also go out on his third run, he would be joined by Barrichello. Michael would set a time of 1m:13.018, 0.182 behind Montoya. As for Rubens he would would spin on his flying lap.

With seven minutes left the order was Montoya, Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Fisichella, Trulli, Panis, Massa, Button, Irvine, Sato, de la Rosa, Salo, Bernoldi, McNish, Frentzen, Webber, and Yoong.

Jacques Villeneuve would be seen getting out of his car after a strange spin in the pit lane. He looked like he had a broken suspension or a differential problem, leaving him in eighth. Fisichella would go into sixth with a superb lap, only 1.2 secs behind Montoya. With three minutes remaining Montoya would attempt his final run. Ralf's last run would be 0.3 secs behind at T1 so he would not challenge for pole.

Montoya's last flying lap would not see any improvement but his rival Michael Schumacher would see his final attempt affected by rain falling in the dying moments of qualifying. So Juan Pablo would secure his pole with Michael second, Rubens third and Ralf fourth. Once again we have a grid which will see the WilliamsF1 and Ferrari teams occupy the front two rows, making for a very interesting race.