Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying

May 27, 2006 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

Currently: air temperature 24°C; track 44°C; wind 0.4m/s – it’s warm and sunny

Given how overtaking is virtually impossible at Monaco, qualifying is more important than ever

Session 1:

The BMW-Saubers of Heidfeld and Villeneuve are first out

First to post a lap time is Liuzzi – 1:17.146

Alonso – 1:16.311

Speed – 1:16.236

Button – 1:16.037

Trulli – 1:15.360

Trulli – 1:14.883

Massa has put his Ferrari in the wall up at Casino – red flags are out with 8:28 left in this session

At this point, the bottom six are: Webber, Rosberg, Sato, Montagny, Massa and M.Schumacher – the two Ferraris haven’t posted a time, and now Massa won’t

Session restarts

Fisichella posts 1:14.614

Alonso 1:14.232

Raikkonen 1:13.887

Button’s now in the bottom six!

JB improves his time and moves up to P9 … and teammate Barrichello is now on the cusp

1min left: If you’re not well into your fast lap now, it’s too late

Session ends

Fastest was KR – 1:13.887

Bottom six are: P17=Albers, P18=Monteiro, P19=Speed, P20=Sato, P21=Montagny, and P22=Massa

Session ends

Session 2:

NH first on track again

NH 1:15.137

GF 1:13.647

KR 1:13.532

10mins left: MW, NR, MS yet to set a time

The TSN commentators get all excited about RS in the new Toyota TF106B car, but he can only manage P10

8mins left: MS is the last to come out to set a time – he’s in provisional P4

5mins left: bottom six are currently RS, CK, JB, NH, JV & VL

3mins left: KR’s provisional pole time still stands (1:13.532)

FIA’s timing chart shows NH has stopped in Sector 2 but nothing on TV, and (fortunately) no yellow flags

Replay shows NH pulled of just before the tunnel

DC improves to P4 – a very good result for him

Session ends

Fastest was KR – 1:13.532

Bottom six are: P11=R.Schumacher, P12=Klien, P13=Liuzzi, P14=Button, P15=Villeneuve, and P16=Heidfeld

That’s the first time this season that JB hasn’t made it to the final session

Session 3:

MS is first on track this time, leading the pointless fuel-burning parade … but then again Monaco is special and they can’t afford to take it easy too long in case they don’t post a good time before there’s an incident

MS 1:17.220

JM 1:15.516

5mins gone / 15mins left

10mins left

The first pits stops have begun

KR 1:4.140 with 6mins left in this final session

MS 1:13.898

4mins left – time for the final pit stops

2mins left; the order is MS, FA, MW, KR, GF, JM, RB, NR, DC, JT

KR is on a flyer, but he’s slowed by a Williams

Chequered flag is out but the current lap will count … except MS has stopped at Rascasse, bringing out yellow flags on the last corner – that’s convenient for him!

There’s no damage to the Ferrari – he didn’t touch the wall or anything – and there are a lot of very angry people in the pit lane
FA’s flying lap is ruined because of MS’s “incident” – he was on to take poll but the yellow flag meant he missed it by less than a tenth of a second
There’s a few “incidents under investigation” messages flashing across the bottom of the screen – I’m not surprised there are protests at MS’s actions in the final corner … but I will be amazed if the FIA find him in the wrong.

Provisional grid: MS, FA, MW, KR, GF, JM, RB, JT, DC, NR; RS, CK, VL, JB, JV, NH; CA, TM, SS, TS, FMo, FMa.

Even the official FIA feed says the replays “show Schumacher seemingly overcooking it” – very suspicious!

Update: “Michael Schumacher has been stripped of pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix and will have to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.” [BBC]