Coulthard on pole, disappointing qualifying session for OrangeArrows

Published on 26 May 2001 by Verstappen Info Page

David Coulthard will start from pole in the 48th Grand Prix of Monaco. Next to him on the front row will be Michael Schumacher. This will be an interesting direct fight between the two candidates for the World Championship 2001. The second row is for Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello. The OrangeArrows drivers Jos Verstappen and Enrique Bernoldi can be found on positions 19 and 20.

Jos was on pole for a couple of minutes because he was the first driver on the track and lapped a time of 1.23.537. It appears to be a lost lap because he complains about not enough grip. This is confirmed when the next set of drivers break the 1.20 barrier within ten minutes. Jos manages to improve his time during his second and third run but his position on the grid does not get better. In his fourth run he makes a good time in the first section but loses a lot of time in sections two and three that he cannot manage to improve his time of 1.20.832. In the end he places himself on 19th position but in front of Enrique Bernoldi who will start from place 20.




David Coulthard manages to beat Michael Schumacher's time with 0.2 seconds to 1.17.430. Michael has just one last lap to go but has to abort this attempt with, as it seemed, an problem with the front wheel suspension. Very remarkable is that Eddie Irvine will start from 6th position with his Jaguar and Giancarlo Fisichella who manages to qualifies himself within the top ten. Is Benetton on the way back? Disappointing day for the Saubers who start from positions 15 and 16.