Montoya takes pole at Monaco!

Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix would be run under sunny conditions with a temperature of 23 degrees. Michelin seems to have brought a pretty competitive tyre ands as such their teams look to have the advantage. Minardi's Alex Yoong is the first man out on the track.

But he would be seen walking back into the pits as he was to crash at Sainte Devote, and the teams spare car was setup for Mark Webber. Several drivers including Takuma Sato, Kimi Raikkonen, and Eddie Irvine would also drive the spare car as they already had accidents in the earlier practice.

Eddie Irvine would be the next driver to take to the track. He would be joined by Bernoldi. Irvine would set a time of 1m:23.529 is his first time, but Bernoldi would go fastest by 0.824 secs.

With twenty minutes already passed there was very little action. Sauber driver Felipe Massa would start his flying lap and sets a time of 1m:21.201 to go fastest. Michael Schumacher is also out on the track but he would abort his first flying lap. Allan McNish would go second quickest. As we neared half way both WilliamsF1 cars were out on the track, but with average times at T1 they would finish only slightly quicker than McNish. Montoya posts a 1m:18.698, while Ralf does a 1m:20.720.

Heidfeld would go third. For McLaren driver David Coulthard his time at T1 was very encouraging and he would set the fastest time. But he would be passed by both Barrichello and Trulli, with Trulli going fastest. So with thirty minutes gone the order was Trulli, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Button, Fisichella, McNish, Panis, Heidfeld, Sato, R Schumacher, Massa, Webber, Bernoldi, de la Rosa, and Irvine.

For Ferrari after their difficulties in practice they would look faster during qualifying. Toyota's Mika Salo would move into sixth. Michael Schumacher, Frentzen, Yoong and Raikkonen were all still to set a time. But Michael would return to the circuit and would finally set a competitive time with a lap of 1m:17.712 and he would take the lead by 0.6 secs. Frentzen was now in seventh.

Ralf Schumacher would move into second, 0.1 behind the lead. Raikkonen would be back on the track. Jordan driver Fisichella was able to move up from twelfth to sixth. Coulthard would go fastest again by 0.016 secs. Trulli is third, only 0.111 secs behind Coulthard. With only twenty minutes in the session left it would be Juan Pablo who would set the best time by 0.421 secs, making the order Montoya, Coulthard (0.4), Michael Schumacher (0.5), Trulli (0.6), Ralf Schumacher (0.6), and Button (0.9).

Toyota drivers Salo and McNish are eighth and ninth. Kimi Raikkonen would only set the eleventh fastest time after his first serious run. Barrichello sets a time of clocks 1:17.481 and goes second, he lost time in the last sector. Michael Schumacher would try to improve on his time but he would run into traffic and had to abort the lap. Michael would remain in fourth but brother Ralf would take the lead with a lap of 1m:17.274 and he is ahead by 0.001 secs.

Juan Pablo would complete another lap but would be 0.089 behind his team mate during this lap as Trulli failed to improve his time. Coulthard would jump back into the lead with a time 0.2 secs faster. Trulli is sixth and Button seventh.
Raikkonen would move into fifth ahead of Michael Schumacher. The order was Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher (0.2), Montoya (0.2), Barrichello (0.4), Raikkonen (0.6), and Michael Schumacher (0.7).

Michael would take to the track for one final lap and finally sets a time of 1m:17.205 and he was now second behind Coulthard. Barrichello would also try and improve but it would be WilliamsF1 driver Montoya who would set the fastest time in the dying moments of qualifying. So the final order for the top six would be Montoya, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, and Trulli.