It seems like Ferrari’s domination of F1 maybe thing of the past, at least of this season, as almost all the races have resulted in nail biting endings from qualifying to the actual race. Eventhough, Ferrari leads both in the Driver’s championship and the Constructor’s championship, but Williams and Mclaren are pretty much up there..it won’t be a blowout season like the last one, and the new regulations have put all teams on equal footing.
There’re some doubts about Ferrari’s performance, but I think they are by far still the best team, and have managed to stay on top despite of stiff competition..let’s see what happens tomorrow..
Ralf takes pole
We have got a slight advantage so I hope we make the most of it
Williams have claimed the front row of the grid for Sunday’s French Grand Prix.
Ralf Schumacher took his third pole position in four races after a blistering qualifying lap of 1min 15.019secs at Magny-Cours.
Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, stilll looking for his first pole of the season, was 0.117secs behind.
But it was Michael Schumacher who produced the lap of the day.
The Ferrari driver forced his way into third ahead of the McLarens and the Renaults with an inspired lap, despite an apparent tyre deficit.
The world champion said: “Our performance is not quite there as this circuit should have been good for our car. But I don’t think we are losing anything - it’s just the others have got very strong.”
McLaren duo Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard were back in fourth and fifth respectively.
Raikkonen found his best lap of the weekend so far to cross the line 0.514 secs behind Ralf.
Coulthard, who was just under 0.1secs slower than his team-mate, said he had driven somewhat defensively having felt the car getting away from him in practice.
LEADING POSITIONS
1 R Schumacher (Williams) 1:15.019
2 JP Montoya (Williams) 1:15.136
3 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:15.480
4 K Raikkonen (McLaren) 1:15.533
5 D Coulthard (McLaren) 1:15.628
6 J Trulli (Renault)
1:15.967
“I know I could go quicker if I could relax and attack a lap,” he said.
Renault duo Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso will sit at sixth and seventh about a second slower than pole.
Rubens Barichello was eighth, illustrating the quality of team-mate Michael Schumacher’s third-fastest time - the Brazilian was 0.7secs slower than the world champion.
Australian Mark Webber, who had an unfortunate pit-lane shunt with Schumacher on Friday which resulted in a £6,500 fine for Ferrari, was ninth in his Jaguar.
Frenchman Olivier Panis looked like finishing higher up the order but had to settle for squeezing Jacques Villeneuve out of 10th after a lazy last couple of corners.
Villeneuve was 12th and BAR team-mate Jenson Button 14th after losing track time on Friday because of their team’s legal battle.
BAR cleared to race
Williams’ performance comes just six days after they finished one-two in the European Grand Prix and underlined their emergence as F1 pace-setters.
And they look odds on to make it three wins from four races on Sunday.
Michael Schumacher produced a stunning lap
Lap Magny-Cours with Jarno Trulli
Ralf Schumacher said: "Juan came very close so it wasn’t easy, though it looks like that.
“We have got a slight advantage here so I hope we make the most of it. From the first lap we have looked quicker than Ferrari but they are consistently quick so let’s wait and see. There is also the McLarens as well.”
Montoya said: "The car felt a lot better in qualifying. We picked up a lot of time from the morning. I hadn’t been comfortable and I had everything changed.
“It was the best I felt all week, but it was too little, too late. But I think we are going to have a really good race car.”