Slowly but surely Montoya is moving up and he proved it in the Canadian GP qualifying rounds by driving 2/10 sec. faster than Shumacher. Although, there’s always a squabble at the beginning of the race..can Shumacher out-pace him once the race begins..well, remains to be seen. :
Qualifying report: Montoya takes Montreal pole 08 Jun 2002
**Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya will start Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix from pole position after winning a tense qualifying battle with the Ferrari of Michael Shumacher. **The Colombian was less than two tenths of a second quicker than the world champion around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher continued the Ferrari-Williams duel as they finished the hour third and fourth fastest respectively. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was their nearest challenger in fifth, while Giancarlo Fisichella gave Jordan their best grid position of the year as he completed the top six.
The one-hour session started in low-key fashion. Despite the threat of rain, no one emerged from the pits for the first ten minutes. Then unusually it was Williams who took the initiative, sending both drivers out in a gamble which was to pay off for the team.
Montoya set the benchmark, which went unchallenged until the 24th minute when Schumacher went quicker by over a second on his first proper run, establishing a new fastest lap for the circuit. Barrichello promptly followed him into second place.
However, Montoya fought back just four minutes later, taking close to half a second out of Schumacher’s time. Ralf went second almost immediately to change a Ferrari one-two into a Williams one-two.
Schumacher moved up to second in the 43rd minute, but even after another run was unable to match the Colombian. Barrichello had to settle for third after spinning without damage at Turn 3 late in the hour. Slight rain in the final five minutes effectively then effectively ended the qualifying battle.
“It was a pretty good lap,” said Montoya of his pole effort. "We thought it was going to rain a bit earlier so we went out to put a decent lap in.
“Then Michael went (top). I knew I had quite a bit of time there, from the morning, so I went out and really gave it a go. It will be an interesting race I think.”
Schumacher admitted there was little he could do to challenge his Williams rival, especially when the rain fell, but insisted he was confident for the race.
“The final lap was already too much spitting down and there was no point to keep trying,” he said. “We will go to a race set-up, but obviously our guys have done a great job in terms of qualifying engines today, so for tomorrow we do the necessary changes we think are right.”
As predicted, McLaren were unable to trouble the top four. With Raikkonen fourth, team mate David Coulthard was left down in eighth place. Luck was not with the Scot, who had to abort a promising run when the engine of Takuma Sato’s Jordan blew in front of him. He then spun at the final corner as he tried to improve in the last minute.
Both Jordan and BAR were using updated Honda qualifying engines, Fisichella making the most of his improved V10 to take sixth. Team mate Sato was less fortunate. His engine blew midway through the session and he had a long run back to the pits to resume qualifying in the spare, which was set up for Fisichella. The Japanese rookie finished 15th fastest.
Jacques Villeneuve was a promising ninth in front of his home crowd in his newly revised BAR, with team mate Olivier Panis 11th. Villeneuve may have done even better had he not been forced to retire with a mechanical problem while lying eighth.
Renault’s Jarno Trulli made the top ten, despite having the only accident of the session. The Italian hit the wall on the exit of Turn 9, damaging his right-rear suspension and forcing him to limp back to the pits for the spare. Team mate Jenson Button was 13th fastest.
Nick Heidfeld put in a mature performance to take seventh on the grid for Sauber. Rookie team mate Felipe Massa had a more eventful session as his car started to smoke near the end of the hour. He then locked up, prompting a trip across the cross, and finished in 12th position.
Against the run of recent form, both Jaguars out-qualified Cosworth rivals Arrows. Eddie Irvine was down in 21st place with only seven minutes remaining, but fought his way up to 14th. Team mate Pedro de la Rosa was 16th fastest.
Enrique Bernoldi out-qualified team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen for the first time this season as the Arrows pair finished 17th and 19th respectively. It was a disappointing end to the team’s day after Frentzen’s promising 11th place in morning practice.
Mika Salo was the leading Toyota runner in 18th, the fledgling Japanese team struggling to get to grips with the Montreal track. Team mate Allan McNish was 20th, beating only the Minardis of Mark Webber and Alex Yoong.
Conditions were overcast throughout the session, with track temperatures peaking at around 29°C. There was little to choose between the Michelin and Bridgestone tyres and Sunday’s race looks set to be another close fight between Williams and Ferrari.