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| Austrian Grand Prix 16th - 18th May - Tony Moffett Qualifying Report |
Length:4.326
km |
| Michael Schumacher took
his 54th pole for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Austria with a time
of 1m9.150s. Kimi Raikkonen was off pole by a mere .039s. This session
had more off course excursions resulting in marginal grid positions
for several top drivers. Alonso in the Renault got it all wrong and ended up with 19th position which clearly was disappointing to team boss Flavio Briatore. Mark Webber also disappointed Jaguar starting from 17th and for the 1st time this season was out qualified by teammate Pizzonia who took 9th spot. David Coulthard makes the list too with a wide exit and resulting extra time to his lap putting him in 14th. Villeneuve ran a very ragged lap but remained in control to post an unimpressive 12th. Up front after the Ferrari and McLaren is Juan Montoya in the 1st Williams who takes 3rd after some “radical” changes to his car after final practice. The popular Columbian seemed pleased with his effort in the post qualifying news conference. Nick Heidfeld in the Ferrari powered Sauber put in a strong effort resulting in a 4th place grid position. Rubens Barrichello who’s terminal velocity was higher than M Schumacher’s only managed a 5th after a bobble during his run. Once again England’s Jenson Button showed his talent especially to his highly over rated and over paid teammate Villeneuve by taking the 7th spot a full 5 positions of Jacques. Ralf Schumacher redeemed himself after failing to post a time in yesterday’s pre qualifying by qualifying midfield in 10th position. Another disappointing run for Heinz-Harold Frentzen only saw him qualify 15th. Neither Toyotas showed well qualifying 11th with Panis and 13th with Da Matta. The rest of the field sorted out pretty much as one would expect with the previously mentioned exceptions. Verstappen starts last in the Minardi after a transmission failure forced him to stop on track. There is the mention of rain for tomorrow so with the FIA’s decision to relax rules and allow 2 wet tire compounds to be made available we should be in for an exciting race regardless of track conditions. The start is especially critical with the likes of World champion Schumacher, Raikkonen and Montoya starting in the 1st 3 positions. Schumacher and Montoya have put each other off at the 1st turn here before. Article by: Tony Moffett |
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