22/05/2005
NEWS STORY
McLaren
West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will start today's Monaco Grand Prix from pole position. This is Kimi's third consecutive pole position and the sixth of his career. The last time a West McLaren Mercedes driver had pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix was in 2001 (David Coulthard). Kimi's aggregate time was 2:30.323. Juan Pablo Montoya didn't take part in the qualifying session as he will have to start today's 78-lap race from the back of the grid following the decision by the stewards yesterday.
Kimi Raikkonen: "I'm obviously pleased to be on pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix where it matters more than most places. The car is working well and due to the gap from yesterday's qualifying session we have been able to adopt what will hopefully prove to be a strong race strategy. There is still a long race to go and as Monaco has shown in the past anything can happen here, but so far so good, and I'm looking forward to the race."
Juan Pablo Montoya: "It goes without saying that we are disappointed with the decision by the Stewards yesterday. However there is nothing we can do but to get on with the race where we will do our best to score some points. Although we have a strong package as Kimi's performance has shown I know that my race will be hard work."
Ron Dennis: "A satisfactory outcome to a qualifying session which reflected what we believe to be a strong race strategy. The decision to conserve the Michelin tyres and fuel on Juan Pablo's car was the logical step following yesterday's announcement by the Stewards."
Norbert Haug: "An excellent performance by Kimi achieving his third consecutive pole position. We expect our strategy to be very good. It's a shame for Juan Pablo to be at the wrong end of the grid due to the decision by the Stewards. Anyway he will give it everything to get into the points."
TSauber drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa will start today's Monaco Grand Prix from ninth and 11th positions respectively after this morning's final qualifying session in which they were 11th and 10th fastest.
Jacques Villeneuve: "It was a pretty good session. I had hoped to be up behind David Coulthard because we make good starts, and it's a pity to lose a place to Michael, but the car was neutral in its behaviour so I'm reasonably happy. We always run stronger in the race than in qualifying and we have a good strategy, so let's see what happens."
Felipe Massa: "The track improved a lot during the session, and when I was out it was still very slippery. Like yesterday, it would have been easy to make a mistake but I had a good lap. I'm just going to go for it this afternoon, but I know it will be tough. Above all here, in this situation, the most important thing is to be there at the finish."
Minardi
The momentum continued for the Minardi F1 Team in the final official qualifying session for this afternoon's Monaco Grand Prix. Drivers Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers again put in excellent performances to consolidate their provisional grid positions, and will start today's event from 13th and 14th positions. Aside from the performance of Friesacher and Albers, team personnel are also very pleased to see that former Minardi drivers will occupy four of the top five starting positions on the grid for Formula One's most famous race.
Patrick Friesacher: That was quite a difficult lap for me and I was definitely on the limit in a few places. I think maybe the tyres were not quite warm enough when I was really pushing, and as a result, there wasn't as much grip as there should have been. I'm happy, though, that we have kept our grid positions – it's a good result for us.
Christijan Albers: It feels good, and I have a lot of confidence for today's race. We have found what we think is a good set-up for the race. It would be great if we could maybe surprise a few people this afternoon. The team's performance this weekend has been very good and everybody is really motivated, but we also have to keep our feet on the ground, not just for this race, but for the 13 that are still to come.
Red Bull
David Coulthard: It was okay, not a mega performance, but not bad. The team's working hard to get points so I hope to get a good result here. There were no big moments and, strategy wise, we'll find out in the race whether it was a good lap or not.
Tonio Liuzzi: The track was much better for this morning's run than it was yesterday when I was first out and it was dirty. Actually, I wasn't expecting it to be in such good condition. I think it was a good lap for me, I had more grip, which gave me more confidence and I was able to push. I had a small slide at Tabac Corner, but apart from that, it was okay. Overall I'm happy about the session and am just looking forward to the race.
WilliamsF1
In a race where grid position counts more than anywhere else, both the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers look in good shape, with Mark Webber starting from third place, having confirmed his qualifiying place from yesterday and Nick Heidfeld starts from the third row, having set the 6th fastest time.
Mark Webber: It's great to be in the top three again today. It's going to be a hard race with McLaren and Renault looking very strong. We are generally happy with our car and for us this has been the best race weekend so far this year, which makes us confident for the race. It will be interesting to see if our tyre choice will pay off. I would love to be on the podium today, Monaco has been a special place for me in the past having won from pole position in the 2001 F3000 event.
Nick Heidfeld: We will know after the end of the first race stint on which fuel load everyone was this morning, therefore it's premature to comment accurately on my grid position. I was satisfied with my qualifying lap anyway, even if I am not too happy that Jarno Trulli gained one position over me. I believe that we are in good shape for the race.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It‘s a good qualifying result, giving us good starting positions for the race. The lap times were more or less as expected. It will be interesting to see how the different strategies evolve during this afternoon's race. We are looking forward to it!
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Having one car on the second row and the other one on the third row gives us a good starting position for the race. Start performance will be crucial as well as the different fuel loads which will decide the timing of the first pit stops and furthermore tyre degradation will be an important factor over the whole race distance.
Toyota
After what could have been the final Sunday morning qualifying session of the year, Panasonic Toyota Racing's Jarno Trulli moved up two places to 5th on the grid for this afternoon's Monaco Grand Prix. Ralf Schumacher put in just one installation lap in the new car which the team built up after his accident yesterday afternoon. Both drivers will now do their best to score points in this afternoon's exhausting race.
Jarno Trulli pushed to the limit around Monaco this morning to move up two places to 5th on the grid. The result keeps up Jarno's record of qualifying in the top five at every race this year.
Jarno Trulli: "I am very happy with the lap, which was a big improvement on yesterday. I was really on the limit at several parts of the circuit so I'm glad to have held the lap together until the end. It means I go up two positions to 5th on the grid. Obviously grid position is very important here so a place in the top five is a good place to start. Then it's important to get a good rhythm in the race and not make any mistakes. Anything can happen in Monaco so we'll have to play a waiting game and see what transpires."
Ralf Schumacher will line up at the back of the grid for today's Monaco Grand Prix following his accident yesterday. Now Ralf will give everything around the street circuit this afternoon as he bids to move up through the field.
Ralf Schumacher: "This morning we just put in an installation lap on the new car. Obviously it's not ideal to go into a race after so little running but I've been in the business long enough that it should not be a problem. Of course Monaco is the wrong race to start at the back but anything can happen here over the course of 78 hard laps. The important thing here is to finish the race without going off. That's never easy but if you can manage it you never know where you might end up."
After a positive morning session, Panasonic Toyota Racing goes into this afternoon's Monaco Grand Prix looking to get both cars to the finish of this gruelling event.
Dieter Gass – Chief Race Engineer: "Jarno did a very good lap. He picked up the positions which we were targeting, and did as much as we thought it was realistic to hope for. He looks well set for the race so we have to be happy with the qualifying result. With Ralf, because we knew we were starting last anyway we just did a lap to make sure the car was okay. It's obviously going to be difficult for him this afternoon but his race performances this year show he will give everything today to finish as high as possible. We have also seen many races here where a lot of cars have retired. It's a matter of staying out of trouble, bringing the cars home and picking up as much as we can."