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01/07/2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Prediction - Team
Stats - Friday Practice - Qualifying - Result |
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View : When you look at the top teams, no one has a record like Williams'. They have been in the points every year since 1982 - apart from 1988 - but even that is a considerable record. Admittedly the trend recently has been downwards, but with Michelin in France, and Ralf having always finished, Williams must surely be a major favourite. This is a fast circuit, not the fastest and speeds will reach 185mph on the long semi-straight from Estoril to Adelaide. There is one hairpin and three slow corners, 1st gear. Williams power will count. Its Michelin's home ground. Prediction : Qualifying saw a lot of gambling by the teams and and some individuals. We guessed right with Ralf taking pole from Michael but were disappointed with Montoya. However Pablo has chosen the hard Michelin tyre where as Ralf has the soft. This could really work for Montoya in the period up to pit stop as track temperatures of 50 degrees will be seen for the first time this year. New Bridgestones have caught everyone by surprise but no with testing, their race performance is an unknown which is why Montoya's conservative choice on a tyre that improves with time has to be the outside bet for winner. Its the most open race for a long time with these unknowns but Ralf looks best set. In the past there have been a lot of cars finishing this race, never less than 11 and once 19 in the last ten years. We think it will be on the low side this year with all the new traction controls in the toughest corners of the year and many people experimenting with new rubber and engines for Renault. What we said before qualifying - [ Williams are the team to beat here and any team on Michelin. Irvine showed McLaren a scary site in the last race and sadly for Hakkinen, Jaguar may not be in his mirrors but in front on the grid. Testing from weeks ago showed the Williams team to be out in front by a mile. We won't know until qualifying because Micheal always keeps stuff in reserve for that. It will be close, Ferrari will have to have a setup just for this circuit to take pole and they are behind on preperation. Ralf looks marginal favourite for pole and good for the race. Montoya might get in the way. Outside bet on a Jaguar car getting on the podium, you'll find 33-1 or 50-1 with many bookmakers for one or other of their drivers. However you can bet with some on points finishes, De La Rosa for example is 12-1 at Ladbrokes. StanleyBet have a pole position match bet, Montoya-Hakkinen, Pablo at 5/4 is juicey!! Ed. ] Weather : Prediction of 26 celcius and clear skies for Sunday Team Stats To Date: (9 races gone) Ferrari Schumacher has out-qualified Barrichello 9 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.404 Schumacher's average qualifying position 1st, Barrichello's 3rd From 18 starts, Ferrari have finished 14 times (78%) and in the points 14 times (78%) McLaren Hakkinen has out-qualified Coulthard 4 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.018s Hakkinen's average qualifying position 4th, Coulthard's 5th From 18 starts, McLaren have finished 13 times (72%) and in the points 12 times (67%) Williams Schumacher has out-qualified Montoya 8 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.551s Schumacher's average qualifying position 2nd, Montoya's 7th From 18 starts, Williams have finished 6 times (33%) and in the points 6 times (33%) Benetton Fisichella has out-qualified Button 8 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.595s Fisichella's average qualifying position 17th, Button's 20th From 18 starts, Benetton have finished 11 times (61%) and in the points 1 time (6%) BAR Villeneuve has out-qualified Panis 5 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.024s Villeneuve's average qualifying position 9th, Panis' 10th From 18 starts, BAR have finished 10 times (56%) and in the points 4 times (22%) Jordan Trulli has out-qualified Frentzen/Zonta 8 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.304s Frentzen/Zonta's average qualifying position 8th, Trulli's 6th From 18 starts, Jordan have finished 10 times (56%) and in the points 6 times (33%) Arrows Bernoldi has out-qualified Verstappen 5 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.135 Verstappen's average qualifying position 18th, Bernoldi's 19th From 18 starts, Arrows have finished 8 times (44%) and in the points 1 time (6%) Sauber Heidfeld has out-qualified Raikkonen 4 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.072s Heidfeld's average qualifying position 11th, Raikkonen's 12th From 18 starts, Sauber have finished 11 times (61%) and in the points 6 times (33%) Jaguar Irvine has out-qualified de la Rosa 4 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.754s Irvine's average qualifying position 13th, de la Rosa's 14th From 18 starts, Jaguar have finished 9 times (50%) and in the points 2 times (11%) Minardi Alonso has out-qualified Marques 8 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 1.022s Marques' average qualifying position 22nd, Alonso's 21st From 18 starts, Minardi have finished 8 times (44%) and in the points 0 times (0%) Prost Alesi has out-qualified Burti 3 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.649s Burti's average qualifying position 16th, Alesi's 15th From 18 starts, Prost have finished 14 times (78%) and in the points 2 times (11%)
The Scot topped the timesheets ahead of unlikely duo Eddie Irvine and Jacques Villeneuve. Irvine had a difficult morning, failing to set a time in the first practice hour do a technical problem, and will be delighted with his final position. Mika Hakkinen finished the day fourth, just behind Villeneuve, while Ralf Schumacher improved his time in the closing minutes to finish fifth, ahead of team mate Montoya and brother Michael. Pedro de la Rosa in the second Jaguar was 8th. A number of drivers experienced the Magny-Cours gravel today, with almost half leaving the dusty track during the two hours of practice. |
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Irvine was unlucky as he posted an early fast time only to see subsequent tweaks to his set-up throw him all over the track whilst losing the rear end. He ditched one car and tried to do the same with the T-car. He finished in 12th spot, half a second clear of team mate de la Rosa. Ralf put a firey lap together and two attempts by Michael came very close, though in the end Ralf had three laps spare. McLaren got the best they could hope for from the new Bridgestones, they must pray for longevity in the race to stay where they are with Montoya behind them on proven rubber. |
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Ralf gave up the front position to his brother Michael as he pitted one third of the way through the race after being slightly faster for twenty laps. Michael never looked back and flew with a top set of rubber. Bridgestone have improved to be just behind Michelin in peak performance but with Michelin's having to be scrubbed for peak performance they (Bridgestone) look to have the edge once again. Again Williams only had one set of well prepared tyres (those with 12 laps on them) which really makes it hard to understand their strategy. Irvine ran really well and looked set to find a point before technical failure. 15 finishers was the high end of expectations. McLaren still not really firing on all cylinders, how can they allow a pit speeding penalty and a failure on the grid? Its not good enough for the money they get paid. The hard and soft Michelins don't seem to be different. Montoya's gamble threatened but deceived. Rubens made good work from 8th on the grid to finish 3rd with a 3 stop strategy that performed OK but not as stunning as he made out. Mika didn't start, he passed Jordan's on the 1st lap and DC got a STOP/GO penalty and Montoya fell off. |
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| Footnote : The French started off at Reims, then went to Rouen for the first time two years later. Clermont-Ferrand hosted its first race in 1965; the race returned to Le Mans in 1967 for a single event; then it went to Le Castellet or Circuit Paul Ricard as it's also known in 1971; to Dijon in 1974 and finally went to Magny Cours for the first time in 1991. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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