Cool Villeneuve
Takes Reigns From Frentzen
Villeneuve
Leads a Williams Front Row.
Jacques Villeneuve
today established why he remains the favourite for
the 1997 World Championship. A cool qualification
where he waited until the closing moments of the
session before emulating his former team-mate Damon
Hill by snatching pole with an unbeatable run.
Initially it looked as
if qualifying was in the hands of the Gods... rain
was spitting onto the circuit and for a while there
was a worry that it may become a wet session. As a
result all the teams pushed their cars out at the
very beginning of the session. Fortunately the rain
really did stay on the plain. and it was possible to
have a normal fight for qualifying.
The Cinderella story
of Monaco looks unlikely to repeat itself. Michael
Schumacher’s Ferrari was never at its best on
this circuit and it soon showed an even worse side to
it’s nature by blowing up its Evo-2 engine after
just a couple of laps. Michael’s team-mate,
Eddie Irvine, fared even worse by qualifying in 11th
position. Having said that, Irvine’s usual
position on the grid these days is in the middle of
the pack. His race form, however, is a different
story-he seems to achieve the impossible and is now a
regular podium finisher. Michael Schumacher continued
trying for a fast time in his spare car, but
ultimately found he could do little to improve on the
time he'd set early on. A disappointing 7th
place means that he'll be lucky to leave Spain with a
satisfactory result.
The stars of the last
race, Stewart, were unable to show any promise today.
It’s strange to see the car that finished the
last race in 2nd come so far back in
qualifying at Barcelona. It’s possible that the
race will bring some good results, but it seems that
the Ford power plant is unable to help when it comer
to circuits where power is a priority. It's quite
obvious that the car has potential - you only have to
see the surprised looks on people's faces when they
manage to do well. With a bigger budget the Stewart
team has every chance of becoming a major Formula One
player in the very near future.
It was interesting to
note that the new Goodyear tyres have improved the
situation for many of the teams. Teams, that is, that
weren’t running on Bridgestone tyres. In fact,
it was this factor which made Damon Hill’s
position look somewhat better than it might have
done. A dismal warm-up to
the Grand Prix of
Spain had left the World Champion languish ing at the
back of the field complete with a one lap penalty to
be applied to his qualifying session. l5th place
didn’t look too bad in the circumstances, and at
least the Arrows seems to be finding some
reliability. Having said
that, 15th
ir no place for a World Champion and Tom Walkinshaw
will have to work pretty hard if he wants to retain
the driver in 1998.
Elsewhere the two
Jordans qualified in ?th place... nothing to be
disappointed about, but they’ll have to work
hard to keep up with the McLaren team who improved on
their recent poor performances to do well with both
Coulthard and Hakkinen qualifying in 3th & 5th
respectively.
But the star of the
day was Jacques Villeneuve. His team-mate, Heinz
Harald Frentzen had looked like the likely
pole-sitter for most of the session. A cool and
stunning drive by the German was better than
Villeneuve's by such a margin that it looked to be
his pole for the weekend. But Villeneuve came out
near the end of the sessions and did exactly what he
needed to secure the treasured pole position - he
went faster than his team-mate and he transferred all
the pressure across. His ability to deal with
pressure and transfer it onto others is an excellent
strength to have in a sport which can be as much of a
mind game as it is racing. If he can make a half
decent start on Sunday, and he's not been too great
lately, then he has to be the favourite - but
don’t discount his German friend...
David Coveney.
Top Ten Grid
Positions:
1. Jacques Villeneuve/Williams 1 minute 16.5
2. Heinz-Harald Frentzen/Williams 1:16.8
3. David Coulthard/McLaren 1:17.5
4. Jean Alesi/Benetton 1:17.7
5. Mika Hakkinen/McLaren 1:17.7
6. Gerhard Berger/Benetton 1:18.0
7. Michael Schumacher/Ferrari 1:18.3
8. Giancarlo Fisichella/Jordan 1:18.4
9. Ralf Schumacher/Jordan 1:18.4
10. Johnny Herbert/Sauber 1:18.5
