Three Germans cross
the line, but Frentzen spoils ‘Parlez Vouz’
with Schumacher family...
Michael Schumacher heads the grid
for this Sunday’s French Grand prix. A not
unexpected outcome for the Ferrari driver and, with team mate
Eddie Irvine a couple of rows behind in 5th
position all looks set for them to retain their
constructors lead over the much beleaguered Williams team. The surprise of the
qualifying session at Magny Cours however is
that his brother Ralf Schumacher so nearly
shared the front row with him. In an hour that
produced little drama save for a spectacular spin by
eventual 10th placed McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen,
young Schumacher surprised himself by putting in an
early quick lap to establish his credibility as a
potential front runner. "I did not really
expect this result and so I am very happy," He
said afterwards. " but I want to keep my
expectations realistic, meaning that my aim is to
finish the race, obviously in the points if I
can."
Amid new controversy
over fresh verbal outbursts from a bleach-headed Jacques
Villeneuve, the drivers took a protective stance
over the gravity of the accident that caused Prost
driver Olivier Panis to break both his legs at
Montreal. Villeneuve, expressing his disapproval over
the ‘political correctness’ of Formula 1
said, " When someone has an accident everyone
acts as if they are sad, but they don’t really
care. As a driver you take risks and if you
can’t accept them you shouldn’t be out
there." He went on to say "If you
consider it, two broken legs is not that bad. Skiers
get hurt every winter. Olivier is having a great
season and he will be able to come back in a racing
car. If he was a skier he would be off a long
time." The same could of course be said
about Ice skaters and Ballet dancers but the ever
present risk of fatal injuries is not so omnipresent
as it is when one is travelling at 150 km/h and David
Coulthard spoke for many when he said, "The
last time we saw a driver laid out on the side of the
track like that was Ayrton Senna.
The drivers are sincere in their concern."
Coulthard a close neighbour of Villeneuve in Monte
Carlo added, "I am equally sure that they
would be equally concerned if they saw Jacques laid
out on the track."
Ironically, Jacques
Villeneuve had a massive ‘off’ during the
morning’s warm-up session damaging his car so
badly, that it took the William’s mechanics
until the last 15 minutes of the session to repair
it. Hence, having to drive first, the spare car, set
up for HeinzHarald Frentzen and then his own
for his last two laps, he only managed 4th in a
session that he no doubt fully expected to dominate.
The honours for Williams were left to Frentzen and
with a late charge, broke the family monopoly of the
front row by posting a time of 1.14.74s, six one
thousandths of a second faster than the Jordan Peugeot. Schumacher junior’s team
mate Giancarlo Fisichella despite his turn of
speed in untimed practice yesterday was not showing
his usual form and finished in 11th position. "I
had problems with the car this afternoon,"
He said "The main problems were understeer
and lack of grip. The tyre temperatures were too low
and I don’t know why. I was held up by Irvine on
my last run so did not make a better time." Eddie
Jordan can feel quite pleased especially as Peugeot is putting off it’s
decision as to whether he can keep the much vaunted
power supply, until the end of July.
Damon Hill no
matter what he says, and these days there isn’t
much he can say, must secretly harbour some regrets
at not signing with the Jordan team at the end of
last year. The car in it’s present configuration
would have made Hill look very good indeed and there
is little doubt that his name would by now be on the
points table. Finishing a miserable 17th in the Arrows Yamaha nearly two tenths of a second
behind his team mate, ‘rent a driver’ Pedro
Diniz, he said, "We can’t find any
more things to make the car go faster."
There is no more to be said and if next season sees
him with the same team, with the current availability
of good drives on offer for next year, then his
credibility as a driving force could be seriously
undermined.
Of the three new
drivers, Gerhard Berger stand-in Alex Wurz,
finished a creditable 7th for Benetton and over 2 tenths quicker than
old hand Jean Alesi. The remarkable Jarno
Trulli always under rated with Minardi finished
6th in his first time out for Prost as a temporary
replacement for Panis. Clever money could see him as
Panis’ number two for next season.
Norberto Fontana
filling in for Sauber’s Gianni Morbideli
who broke an arm in testing last week finished in
20th place in front of Minardi regular Ukyo Katayama
and new team mate Tarzo Marques deputising for
the transferred Trulli rounded up the session last,
4.2 seconds behind the German polesitter.
Villeneuve’s
final quip was aimed at Schumacher when he echoed a
thought that many journalists harbour in the light of
Schumacher’s suggestions that with the faster
circuits he would not be able to maintain his
championship advantage. "He always plays down
his chances because, if he wins, then he seems an
even bigger hero." He added in deference to
the two times World Champion, "He’s a
great driver. He drives the Hell out of the
Ferrari."
Schumacher, whilst
admitting that none of the drivers were very close,
did talk of ‘looking after each other’
but when it came to the bottom line, "It’s
our job to make the sport as safe as possible."
Schumacher has of course, made the fewest mistakes of
most in his career so far and it may be easy for him
to say. For a young ‘hothead’ like
Villeneuve, desperate for the thrill of the chase and
the glory of winning, it’s equivalent to him
putting on slippers and taking up a pipe. He should
take heed however of his coming together with the
barriers today, for if he had hit them as Panis did
maybe he would be ‘resting up’ for the next
two months.
The sight of three
Germans heading a Grand Prix however briefly, is a
sight not seen since the war, but it will surely be
one that is probably not likely to maintain its
presence over 72 laps. A certain Canadian might see
to that.
Chris Richardson
