- Μηνύματα
- 30.532
- Reaction score
- 51
[url]http://f1.racing-live.com said:[/url]
Much to the delight of the large French crowd on hand at Magny Cours it was Fernando Alonso who took the Pole Position for the French Grand Prix, his third of the season in his Renault and his second successive Pole at the French circuit. Alonso, who leads the Championship by a hefty 22 points over Kimi Raikkonen, put in a mistake free and rapid lap to start ahead of Jarno Trulli who made the front row yet-again for the Toyota squad.
Kimi Raikkonen set the third fastest time in his McLaren Mercedes, just a tenth down on Pole-winner Alonso, but due to his engine change penalty, drops down the grid to 13th for the 70-lap French Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher hooked together a nice lap on a circuit where it is clear that the Michelin runners hold an advantage over a single lap to start from third position ahead of Takuma Sato who was way faster than any of his practice times. It is pretty clear that Sato and BAR Honda have little fuel on board and could well be on a three stop strategy for tomorrows race.
Rubens Barrichello qualified the second Ferrari in fifth position ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, undoubtedly frustrated with his own performance, in the second Renault.
Jenson Button qualified the second BAR Honda in seventh position with an error free lap while Juan Pablo Montoya was disappointing again in the McLaren Mercedes as he was ninth fastest and starts eighth courtesy of his team-mates misfortune.
The Sauber Petronas duo of Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve were closely matched and both did very neat qualifying laps to start the race from ninth and tenth. Villeneuve in particular looked comfortable in the car as the team target points tomorrow afternoon.
Ralf Schumacher had a bit of tough qualifying session again in his Toyota, locking his front right wheel into Adelaide thus compromising his lap from the outset. The 2003 race winner starts 11th some 1.2 second off the pace of team-mate Trulli.
Mark Webber made the best of what is not a great situation at BMW Williams as he starts 12th ahead of Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld in the second Williams in 14th. The team have many modifications to the FW27 in France, but the pace is just not their in the overall package it seems.
David Coulthard and Christian Klien were closely matched at Red Bull Cosworth and line up in 15th and 16th, the final Michelin runners on the grid.
Despite a lurid lap from Narain Karthikeyan, the Indian racer held it together and starts the French Grand Prix from 17th in his Jordan Toyota ahead of Patrick Freisacher in the Minardi Cosworth and Tiago Monteiro who has struggled for pace all weekend in the second Jordan. Christijan Albers was on a good lap until he too lost rear end grip and he starts last in 20th position.
The stage is set for the 70-lap French Grand Prix and things look pretty sweet for the Championship leader and Renault. The race itself gets underway at 14.00 CET.
(κάτι ανάλογο δλδ με Schumacher-Silverstone 1999). :shock: :shock: 
