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Ralf Schumacher has
qualified fastest for tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix. At the wheel of
his Michelin-shod Williams-BMW, the German lapped in 1m 12.275s to deny
Jenson Button (BAR-Honda/Michelin) the second pole position of his F1
career. Schumacher‘s margin of superiority was just 0.066s. It is his
first pole position since last summer’s French GP.
 Michelin
has great strength in depth at the front of the field and its drivers
have annexed the top five places on the grid. Behind Schumacher and
Button, Jarno Trulli (Renault) took third ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya
(BMW WilliamsF1 Team, fourth), Fernando Alonso (Renault, fifth), Kimi
Räikkönen (Team McLaren Mercedes, eighth), David Coulthard (Team McLaren
Mercedes, ninth) and Christian Klien (Jaguar, 10th). The pole winner has
a strong track record in Montreal: he dominated the corresponding
fixture in 2001.
• Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda/Michelin) challenged for pole position. After
setting fastest time through the first sector, however, he made a
mistake in the second and then spun at the final chicane. He will line
up 17th.
• German Timo Glock is making his grand prix debut this weekend. The
Jordan-Ford reserve driver steps up to the race team to replace Giorgio
Pantano, who has been unable to resolve a complex management-related
sponsorship problem. Glock qualified 16th. Pantano expects to return to
action in next weekend’s United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.
• Felipe Massa (Sauber) and Gianmaria Bruni (Minardi) will start at the
tail of the field after aborting their decisive qualifying laps.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director:
“This has been a very satisfactory session for us - and it proves a
point that we keep hammering home: our tyres enable all six of our
partner teams to run competitively. We don't know exactly what
strategies every team has chosen to run, of course, and teams might not
make a final decision until after the race has started. At this track,
starting with 40kg of fuel on board gives you the flexibility to stop
two or three times. Despite the various permutations, however, one thing
is certain: I feel very optimistic about our chances tomorrow.”
Pascal Vasselon, Michelin F1 Programme Manager:
“Irrespective of the different strategies that have been deployed by the
various teams at the front of the grid, it is very satisfying to have
taken the top five places. Our tyres have been quick all weekend - and
in this morning's final free practice sessions we proved that they were
both durable and consistent, too.” |
