David Coulthard in the 2nd McLaren out qualified his teammate by .031s still in last year’s cars. The Williams of Ralf Schumacher failed to successfully negotiate the Gosser turn and ended up in the gravel trap without posting a time. Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2nd Williams pre qualified 6th with the Jordan of Giancarlo Fisichella managing a decent 10th which was better than his 15th place time during the morning’s practice session.

Jarno Trulli in the 2nd Renault got himself into 11th position after being 2nd quick in practice. Next out in the order decided by driver’s points was Heinz-Harold Frentzen in the Sauber who struggled for the 15th grid position. Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR who was mid field in practice grabbed 4th for himself in a good effort by the French-Canadian former World champion. Perhaps the rumors of a pay cut for the ex champion have built a fire in him to produce better results?

Cristiano Da Matta took his Toyota out and improved 1 position over his practice time by taking the 16th spot on the grid. Jenson Button in the 2nd BAR also improved over his practice by putting his car in 5th spot behind arch rival and teammate Villeneuve. Mark Webber whose qualifying sessions have been impressive all season continues to show his skills by taking the 3rd spot in the Jaguar after having practiced in 5th spot. Nick Heidfeld in the 2nd Sauber starts 12th having been as high as 8th earlier in the day. The last of the points earning drivers to pre qualify was Ralph Firman who managed to lose control on the A1 turn that leads onto the main straight away and in clear sight of the team and fans. He ran wide and did not get the car back on track before he ran onto the grass. This resulted in his right side tires contacting the edge of the circuit and spinning him into the barrier damaging the left wheel, front wing and suspension in an ugly and unfortunate error. He will start his qualifying next to last after Ralf Schumacher. This translates into 2nd as the qualifying goes in reverse order of pre qualifying.

Of the non points winning drivers the “jungle boy” Antonio Pizzonia of Brazil provided the best effort when he put his Jaguar into 9th place. Unfortunately he had practiced as far up as 3rd place, but failed to equal that. Jos Verstappen and Justin Wilson took 17th and 18th places respectively in the Minardis. Ferrari appears to have another strong pair of cars for qualifying and hopefully the race on Sunday. Both machines showed good speed on this demanding and twisty circuit where power is very important.

Article by: Tony Moffett