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A bold new era of Formula
One began today with the first qualifying session for the opening race of
the season, in Australia. This year’s F1 world championship features a
raft of fresh regulations –including a new-look, single-lap qualifying
format. Today drivers ran one at a time against the clock in a bid to earn
a favourable late-order starting slot in tomorrow’s second qualifying
session, when grid positions will be decided.
Ferrari set the pace today – but Rubens Barrichello was comfortably faster
than world champion team-mate Michael Schumacher. The Brazilian lapped in
1m 26.372s, just 0.179s quicker than fastest Michelin runner Kimi
Raikkonen (West McLaren-Mercedes/Michelin), and will thus be last to take
to the track tomorrow when, theoretically, track conditions will be at
their most favourable.
 That
hinges on the weather, of course, and thunderstorms are expected to reach
Melbourne tomorrow. Schumacher ended up fourth fastest, behind Jacques
Villeneuve in the much-improved B•A•R-Honda. The Canadian’s effort was all
the more impressive because he managed very little running this morning in
the wake of an engine problem.
Raikkonen, who was fastest in this morning’s free practice session, and
McLaren team-mate David Coulthard (sixth) headed the Michelin challenge on
a generally incident-free day. F1 returnee Fernando Alonso (Mild Seven
RenaultF1 team, seventh) was third of the Michelin runners, ahead of
Olivier Panis (Panasonic Toyota, Racing eighth), Jarno Trulli (Mild Seven
RenaultF1 Team, ninth), Juan Pablo Montoya (BMW WilliamsF1 Team, 10th),
Cristiano da Matta (Panasonic Toyota, Racing, 11th), Mark Webber (Jaguar
Racing, 15th), Ralf Schumacher (BMW WilliamsF1 Team, 16th) and Antonio
Pizzonia (Jaguar Racing, 19th).
F1 new boy da Matta, who won last year’s US-based Champ Car series, was on
course to challenge for a place in the top three, but a mistake in the
final sector dropped him down the final order.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director, commented on the days
events by saying: “It has been a very interesting day. With cars
running one at a time in qualifying it is possible to keep track of every
driver throughout the session. My eyes were riveted to the timing screens,
comparing drivers’ different sector times. It was fascinating at the end,
when Cristiano da Matta looked as though he was capable of challenging for
a place in the top three. I think the new system is good for the show and
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s final session.”
"Michelin has brought five different tyre compounds to the Australian
Grand Prix and all have been tried at various points during the day (in
testing, free practice and qualifying). By the time qualifying started,
however, Michelin’s five partner teams had narrowed their choice to just
two of the available options. It is possible that some cars used
qualifying tyres, so we should wait until after the race to have a general
view." Pierre
Dupasquier added: “Generally I think we are looking good,” he says.
“Friday track conditions last year were very different from Sunday’s, but
this time they seem to be quite similar to what we expect to see in the
race and our tyres are suited to the track and have no problem with
consistency." |
