M.Schumacher on Pole; Qualifying Results - French GP

No stopping Schumacher

Michael Schumacher's diligent preparation paid dividends during qualifying for the French GP, when Ferrari's star secured the 27th pole position of his career with a stunning display. The German spent the morning working on setting up his car for qualifying, and set his time during his first run when the track was at its coolest. "We timed things well, and I am very pleased with the way the car went," Schumacher said. Rubens Barrichello set the pace initially, but had to revert to his initial set-up afgter an experiment with ride heights proved a mistake.

Coulthard flies the flag for McLaren

Even though he did not get out until half the session was over, following work to rectify the engine failure he suffered this morning, David Coulthard remained Schumacher?s closest challenger. The Scot ran the T-car initially when his race car required a new fuel pump, then switched to his repaired race car and was unlucky when the random weight check in the pit lane threw up his name and number twice, once for each chassis. Mika Hakkinen narrowly lost third place to Barrichello, the Finn pronouncing himself less happy with his car than he had been during free practice.

Ralf stars as Williams charges

Proving the value of the team's practice strategy of focusing on race set-up on Friday and qualifying set-up on Saturday morning, Ralf Schumacher set the fifth fastest time to line up behind Ferrari and McLaren. The surprised German was much happier with the balance of his Williams-BMW, as was team-mate Jenson Button who set the 10th fastest time.

Irvine grabs sixth for Jaguar

Eddie Irvine was disappointed to lose fifth place to Ralf Schumacher in the closing stages, but was a lot happier than Johnny Herbert, who complained of poor balance which prevented him from attacking in the fast corners.

Villeneuve fulfills top 10 claim

Jacques Villeneuve fulfilled his prediction of a top 10 placing with a strong performance for BAR-Honda. The French-Canadian was on the pace right from the start and said that he was very happy that he had extracted the maximum performance from his chassis.

Jordan evenly matched

Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli proved very evenly matched with eighth and ninth fastest times, but Trulli's chance of reversing the result ended when he slid over a gravel bed.

Salo in the clouds at Sauber

Mika Salo reported that the Sauber Petronas team timed his last run to perfection, sending him out just as clouds lowered the ambient and track temperatures. But Pedro Diniz lost his chance of a higher placing following gearbox failure.

In brief...

Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz were disappointed with the handling of their Benettons, achieving only 14th and 17th places. The Evo IV versions of Peugeot's V10 did not help Nick Heidfeld and Jean Alesi beyond 16th and 18th positions. Ricardo Zonta had to take the BAR T-car after his race car's engine broke during his first run.

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