Alesi takes second
pole of his career as drivers show respect for the
death of a Princess
As mark of respect for the
funeral of Diana the Princess of Wales, both Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert wore dark armbands and, as the
moment of silence spread across the world so an eerie
silence fell over the Monza circuit. A small
circle of drivers and mechanics formed around the
World Champion as the pit lane came to an uneasy
standstill. Team bosses and Tifosi alike
quietly pondering the tragedy that had befallen the
British nation and no doubt anxious to get qualifying
underway, which it did in a subdued mood and with a
burst of spontaneous applause from the massive
crowd..
Jean Alesi in his Benetton took the
honours for only the second time in his career just
pipping Heinz Harald Frentzen to the front slot by little
more than 5 hundredths of a second. Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan Peugeot came in a brilliant third
giving his Italian fans reason to cheer.
Fisichella took an
early lead in the opening minutes of the session
followed closely by Jacques Villeneuve. Positions changed quickly
after that with both Frentzen and Mika Hakinnen taking brief glory at the
front.
Halfway through the
session Fisichella again pushed himself to the front
with a glorious 1m 23.06s and despite improving yet
again to his final best of 1m 23.066s was unable to
attain the spot that he has coveted since his
magnificent second place at Spa. Having been
called to the stewards for failing to observe the
waved yellow flag after Jarno Trulli spun off,
his lap times for that run were disallowed and he was
given a one race suspended ban for the rest of the
season. However since his fastest time today was made
on his penultimate laps (the run after the one
disallowed) his qualifying position was not affected.
"It is a wonderful position for me to be in
for my first F1 race at Monza" Said a
delighted Fisichella. "I hope to end up in
the top three in the race as well. I feel optimistic
and know that we have a good race set up following
testing here last week. I hope I have given something
to the fans today and that I can do the same
tomorrow." Team mate Ralf Schumacher finished in 8th position,
hampered by steering problems resulting in a complete
change of suspension components.
His older brother Michael was not doing so well finishing
his session well down the field in 9th position.
Experiencing the same problems that have beset
Ferrari during the middle half of the season. the
German was probably not very surprised, as his
testing session at Monza had been
disappointing also. "Naturally I am
disappointed with today's qualifying when I just
could not do better." He said. "I
think the problem is that the moment the track
temperature goes up, our tyres overheat, so they do
not work properly and they lose grip. I said last
week in testing that it would be difficult for us to
get a good grid position at Monza. With so many
competitive cars on the grid, a few tenths of a
second costs you a lot of places on the grid. We have
to accept that, but tomorrow I will do my best to
make the most of the situation."
Consolation came
however for the fans when former Ferrari driver Alesi scorched to pole a
little over half way through the session and never
lost it. His only other pole being with the Scuderia
at the same circuit three years ago. "Everything
has gone as perfectly as I could have hoped and it
has followed on from our good test here last
week." Said a delighted Alesi "Our
car is very competitive with a full fuel load, so if
I get a good start, I have a good chance. It’s a
wonderful feeling. I speak French but I have Italian
blood I am looking forward very much to the
race". Team mate Gerhard Berger did not fare so well, locking
his brakes at the first chicane with fifteen minutes
remaining and finishing seventh.
Despite a late charge Villeneuve was unable to come anywhere
near the Frenchman’s time and the flag fell to
the muted cheers of the crowd having to make do with
an ex-Ferrari driver on pole and Roman and countryman
Fisichella third.
On a day of
international mourning maybe it reflected the mood
the British drivers were in. Hill managing no better
than 14th and Herbert his usual 12th slot. Scotsman David Coulthard managed third row with a
sixth.
Chris Richardson
Final qualifying
times for the Italian Grand Prix
Saturday Sept 6th
1997
1 Alesi (Benetton-Renault)
1m 22.990s
2 Frentzen (Williams-Renault)
1m 23.042s
3 Fisichella (Jordan-Peugeot)
1m 23.066s
4 Villeneuve (Williams-Renault)
1m 23.231s
5 Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes)
1m 23.340s
6 Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
1m 23.347s
7 Berger (Benetton-Renault)
1m 23.443s
8 R. Schumacher
(Jordan-Peugeot) 1m 23.603s
9 M. Schumacher
(Ferrari) 1m 23.624s
10 Irvine (Ferrari)
1m 23.891s
11 Barrichello (Stewart-Ford)
1m 24.177s
12 Herbert (Sauber-Petronas)
1m 24.242s
13 Magnussen
(Stewart-Ford) 1m 24.394s
14 Hill (Arrows-Yamaha)
1m 24.482s
15 Nakano (Prost-Mugen)
1m 24.553s
16 Trulli (Prost-Mugen)
1m 24.567s
17 Diniz (Arrows-Yamaha)
1m 24.639s
18 Morbidelli (Sauber-Petronas)
1m 24.735s
19 Salo (Tyrrell-Ford)
1m 25.693s
20 Verstappen
(Tyrrell-Ford) 1m 25.645s
21 Katayama (Minardi-Hart)
1m 26.655s
22 Marques (Minardi-Hart)
1m 27.677s
