Schumacher shows the way
The 2004 German Grand Prix will be the best chance for Michael Schumacher to improve his German record, after his form hasn't been too good in recent years. He will start from the front of the grid thanks to an excellent third sector time, with aside of him the Williams of JP Montoya.
The end result seems not to be that surprising, it was quite intense. Schumacher has a gap of 0.35s in front of Montoya, but after him the competitors follow closely. In fact his pole is only thanks to his last sector, as many drivers managed to break the first and second sector times of the six time world champion.
The Williams of Montoya seemed to work well at Hockenheim too. The car which is said to get a new conventional nose in Hungary put Montoya on second, after he set the fastest lap time in prequalitying. His teammate Pizzonia is on a disappointing 11th grid position, after he got an excellent second during prequal.
After Montoya there will be the two McLarens of Raikkonen and Coulthard, who are lucky to see Button move 10 places back on tomorrow's grid because of his engine change. The Briton will start from 13th on the grid.
On the next row are both Renaults, with Fernando Alonso comfortable beating his teammate Trulli with 0.3 seconds.
Next on the grid are Barrichello, who is a second slower than his teammate on pole position, Takuma Sato and Olivier Panis in the new TF104B. The French veteran also beat his teammate Da Matta with a full second, putting him 15th.
Full results:
1. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'13"306 224.626 Km/h
2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'13"667 + 0'00"361
3. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'13"673 + 0'00"367
4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'13"690 + 0'00"384
5. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'13"821 + 0'00"515
6. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'13"874 + 0'00"568
7. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'14"134 + 0'00"828
8. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'14"278 + 0'00"972
9. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 1'14"287 + 0'00"981
10. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1'14"367 + 0'01"061
11. 04 PIZZONIA Williams BMW M 1'14"556 + 0'01"250
12. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'14"802 + 0'01"496
13. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1'15"011 + 0'01"705
14. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1'15"395 + 0'02"089
15. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'15"454 + 0'02"148
16. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1'15"616 + 0'02"310
17. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 1'16"192 + 0'02"886
18. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1'16"310 + 0'03"004
19. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 1'18"055 + 0'04"749
20. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 1'18"400 + 0'05"094
