Unsatisfying 15 & 16th in quali for Nick & Jacques

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
May 27 2006

Qualifying for the Monaco GP turned out to be a difficult session for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Though Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld made it through the 1st leg, in the 2nd phase of the session they couldn't match the pace of the front-runners and had to settle for 15th and 16th grid positions

Leg 1: In the first leg - which was red-flagged due to an accident involving Ferrari's Felipe Massa in Casino Square - both Jacques and Nick were among the first to go out, completing two stints and setting personal fastest lap times of 1:15.316 minutes and 1:15.324 minutes respectively. Thereby finishing 15th and 16th and qualifying for the second phase of the qualifying session. The fastest driver in leg one was Kimi Räikkönen (1:13.887 minutes)

Not qualified for leg 2: Christijan Albers, Tiago Monteiro, Scott Speed, Takuma Sato, Franck Montagny and Felipe Massa.

Leg 2: Jacques and Nick again completed two stints each but failed to qualify for the top qualifying. With their personal fastest lap times of 1:15.052 minutes and 1:15.137 minutes respectively, they finished 15th and 16th, with Nick having to abort his final effort - on his 20th lap - due to a technical problem. Again, Räikkönen set the fastest lap time (1:13.532 minutes).

Not qualified for the top qualifying: Ralf Schumacher, Christian Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Jenson Button, Jacques Villeneuve, Nick Heidfeld.

Top qualifying: In top qualifying, Michael Schumacher (1:13.898 minutes) secured pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Fernando Alonso (1:13.962 minutes) and Mark Webber (1:14.082 minutes) finishing second and third respectively. On his final lap, Schumacher made a mistake and stopped on track at Rascasse, thus representing a handicap for Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella on their final laps.

Result: 1st Michael Schumacher, 2nd Fernando Alonso, 3rd Mark Webber, 4th Kimi Räikkönen, 5th Giancarlo Fisichella, 6th Juan Pablo Montoya, 7th Rubens Barrichello, 8th Jarno Trulli, 9th David Coulthard, 10th Nico Rosberg.