AutosportfanTwo
  • 2 months ago
https://video.mrautosportfan.com/formula-1-full-races/
Transcript
00:00:00Will they be adding a new face after today's race?
00:00:03Well, they might.
00:00:05Because with four different chassis in the top five places on the grid,
00:00:09three different types of tyres from Bridgestone and Michelin being used,
00:00:12anyone on the front three rows of the grid today could win this race.
00:00:16It's very, very hard to predict the outcome this afternoon.
00:00:20Tyres will play a major role.
00:00:22Pole sitter Ralf Schumacher is on the softer of the Michelin tyres.
00:00:26His teammate Juan Montoya, though, is on the harder tyre,
00:00:29which should be more durable.
00:00:31So Ralf could have a few problems with tyre wear this afternoon.
00:00:34Both Ferraris and both McLarens are on the new, harder Bridgestone tyre,
00:00:38which looks very promising indeed.
00:00:40They brought it here this weekend, completely untested.
00:00:42Michael Schumacher will be using it as well.
00:00:44And I have to tell you, this track does eat up the tyres.
00:00:47It's going to be a big part of the outcome of the race.
00:00:49There are a number of possible strategies this afternoon.
00:00:52One, two, even three stops is possible.
00:00:55Twenty-two laps to be covered.
00:00:57And Martin, a really fascinating motor racing prospect, I think.
00:01:00Yeah, looking forward to it, wandering around the grid,
00:01:02trying to analyse who might be doing what.
00:01:04Can Ralf Schumacher capitalise on his first ever pole position?
00:01:08BMW and Michelin's first pole since returning to Formula 1, of course.
00:01:13And they've got a tough job on their hands this afternoon.
00:01:16It appears, from this morning's warm-up,
00:01:18Ralf being quite a bit slower, therefore carrying a lot more fuel.
00:01:22They're seriously considering a one-stopper.
00:01:25I was just trying to pry some information out of Gerhard Berger down there,
00:01:29quietly on the grid, as to surely you're not going to do that, are you?
00:01:32Because there's a bit of shaking of heads in the paddock.
00:01:34We all know the quickest way around here is two and sometimes three stops.
00:01:39Everybody did a two-stopper last year
00:01:41because the tyre degradation is normally higher
00:01:45than the advantage you gain as your fuel load goes down.
00:01:48And you should stop at an optimum time,
00:01:50especially as it's just about 21 seconds to make a pit stop here.
00:01:53It's a quick in-lap.
00:01:56The last corner is very slow.
00:01:58The corner around the outside into the pit lane is slightly faster.
00:02:01It's short and an easy build-up to speed on the way out.
00:02:04A new pit exit layout here this afternoon, which will also play a role in that.
00:02:09But it makes no sense that we can see that going on two stops, James.
00:02:16But maybe Michelin, maybe Williams know something that we clearly don't at this time.
00:02:21Yes, we're just taking a look at the grid order there.
00:02:23You can see that the first front four rows are separated by less than a second.
00:02:28It's been one of the closest qualifying sessions I can remember for a long time.
00:02:31McLaren were up there as well.
00:02:33Just two-tenths of a second off the pace.
00:02:35So don't rule out either David Coulthard or Mika Hakkinen from this equation.
00:02:39But interestingly enough, as we look there at Jos Verstappen in the arrows,
00:02:42and there's your pole sitter, Ralf Schumacher.
00:02:44He opted yesterday, Martin, to go with his softer Michelin tyre
00:02:47because he wanted the qualifying advantage.
00:02:49I believe from the Michelin people it's about six-tenths of a second,
00:02:52the advantage between the hard and the soft.
00:02:53So he went for it.
00:02:54But interestingly, Juan Montoya, his teammate,
00:02:56was six-tenths of a second slower than him on the hard tyre.
00:02:59So you have to imagine he might have been right up there himself
00:03:02if he'd gone with the soft tyre.
00:03:03But equally, Montoya yesterday, very bullish after qualifying,
00:03:06believes he's on the right tyre for the race,
00:03:08believes Ralf is on the wrong one.
00:03:10Yes, those two red lights you can see,
00:03:11that is the start of the countdown procedure
00:03:14as they move into the final part of the overall start procedure.
00:03:18That's an acknowledgement to the team.
00:03:20So if you're wondering why those lights are gradually scaling down,
00:03:23of course, they're the same lights that will be used later on
00:03:26for the start itself.
00:03:28But of course, the big thing then,
00:03:30if those two Schumacher brothers that you can see in your screen now
00:03:34are going to have a big ding-dong battle this afternoon,
00:03:37if Ralf is heavier on fuel,
00:03:39Michael will know he has to get in front
00:03:42before or during Turn 3 down at the hairpin,
00:03:45because if Ralf is on a one-stopper,
00:03:47he can spoil everybody's afternoon by holding them up
00:03:51so they lose the sort of 22-second advantage
00:03:54we know there to be in stopping twice during this race.
00:03:57So Ralf then on very used tyres there, we saw,
00:04:00and Hakkinen then has lost the engine.
00:04:03Hakkinen will start this Grand Prix from the back of the grid.
00:04:07Mikko Hakkinen once again on the parade lap has stalled his car.
00:04:11Of course, remember back in Brazil, he stalled it actually at the start,
00:04:14so it's not been a good season for getting away off the grid from Mikko Hakkinen.
00:04:17I don't know what's going on there.
00:04:19Mechanics furiously working on the car,
00:04:21and Mikko Hakkinen before this race has even begun
00:04:23has put himself right out of contention.
00:04:25Now, will he be able to get that car off the grid in time, Martin?
00:04:28I think they should get it easily started up in time, James.
00:04:31Yeah, it's quite a slow lap, this early lap,
00:04:33so he'll easily catch the back of the pack.
00:04:35He's got to be round there before the light procedure commences.
00:04:39Otherwise, under the regulations, you must go in the pit lane.
00:04:43How on earth do you know that before you turn the final corner
00:04:45when you've already missed the pit entry anyway?
00:04:48I've never really been quite sure.
00:04:50But Wife area there looking suitably horrified,
00:04:54and that McLaren will not start for whatever reason.
00:04:57And now they're going to push it off the grid.
00:04:59They can recover to the pit lane
00:05:01where the team can try once again to start that car,
00:05:04and he can start the race from the pit lane.
00:05:06What a miserable season for Mikko Hakkinen so far.
00:05:08Scored just nine points in the first nine races of this Grand Prix season.
00:05:12Astonishing to think that the two-time world champion
00:05:15who won the 98 and 99 world championships
00:05:17has been in so much trouble.
00:05:19And once again, his bad luck continues.
00:05:21Bad luck for Coulthard in many ways as well.
00:05:23He needs Hakkinen up there to help him take points away
00:05:27from Michael Schumacher in the championship fight.
00:05:30So Coulthard up there by himself.
00:05:32But as we've said, four different cars in the top five on this grid,
00:05:36different strategies, different tyres.
00:05:38It'll be interesting.
00:05:39Yeah, bad news for Coulthard,
00:05:40but good news for Juan Montoya and Jarno Trulli, of course,
00:05:43because they've been promoted a place.
00:05:44Particularly Montoya, who is well worth keeping an eye out for this afternoon.
00:05:48As you can see the field streaming around there, Kimi Räikkönen.
00:05:50There you can see the two Benettons.
00:05:52We understand that the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa
00:05:55has had some problems on the parade lap as well.
00:05:57We might see him pulling over in a second as they come up to form on the grid.
00:06:01And of course, we'll see the five lights turn to red and then go out again.
00:06:05Well, we saw Ralf Schumacher in the press conference after qualifying.
00:06:08And there is de la Rosa's stranded Jaguar Cosworth.
00:06:11We saw Ralf Schumacher saying to Michael Schumacher,
00:06:14hey, I owe you one from the chop you gave me last weekend.
00:06:18And don't be surprised if you get it back again.
00:06:20The pair of them completely ignoring the regulations
00:06:23in that you're not allowed to start chopping each other
00:06:25and pushing each other into the wall in front of a pack of 20 Grand Prix cars.
00:06:29Remember how Michael Schumacher cut into David Coulthard last year.
00:06:32Will Ralf Schumacher do the same thing? A great start from him.
00:06:35He's got fantastic traction off the grid.
00:06:37And it looks like the McLaren is side by side with Schumacher
00:06:39as they go into Grand Course for the first time.
00:06:41And Schumacher gets in front.
00:06:42Ralf Schumacher leads from Michael Schumacher.
00:06:44David Coulthard third.
00:06:45Juan Montoya up into fourth place with Trulli fifth.
00:06:48A sensational start by both of the two Williamses
00:06:51and not quite what Michael Schumacher had in mind.
00:06:53He really wanted to be in the lead going into this hairpin on the first lap.
00:06:57Dream start then for Ralf Schumacher.
00:06:59No doubt about it. Coulthard and Michael Schumacher.
00:07:02And Ralf's locked a wheel.
00:07:03But he'd get away with it, I think.
00:07:04But Ralf breaking slightly too late for that hairpin.
00:07:07But no damage done this time.
00:07:09Coulthard then side by side with Michael Schumacher into the first corner.
00:07:13But it turns into a piece of track that's like threading a needle.
00:07:17There is no room.
00:07:18And Coulthard had to yield.
00:07:20So he stays then in third place.
00:07:22Ralf Schumacher leads Michael Schumacher.
00:07:24And not making a break at the moment.
00:07:26Michael Schumacher staying right with his younger brother
00:07:29as we go halfway through the lap now.
00:07:31David Coulthard looking strong.
00:07:32Those are the two marshals looking out of the way to get De La Rosa's stricken car.
00:07:37I'm somewhat amazed, James, to see so many marshals
00:07:39on what is a run-off zone effectively
00:07:42into that 180 mile an hour arrival zone into that Imola chicane.
00:07:46Clearly, and I didn't see any waved yellows either.
00:07:49I think what they were doing was
00:07:50they just saw De La Rosa's car going through in front of the leaders at the moment.
00:07:53As you look at Micah Hakkinen, it looks like he's out of this race.
00:07:56De La Rosa must have got push started.
00:07:57That's what the marshals are doing, running out of the way.
00:07:59But at the end of lap one, Ralf Schumacher leading from Michael Schumacher in second place.
00:08:03Coulthard is third.
00:08:04Montoya fourth.
00:08:05Barrichello fifth.
00:08:06Trulli sixth.
00:08:07Heinz-Harald Frentzen is seventh.
00:08:08Villeneuve eighth.
00:08:09Kimi Räikkönen up to ninth.
00:08:10His teammate Nick Heidfeld is tenth.
00:08:12Eddie Irvine in eleventh.
00:08:13And Jenson Button fans, your man is seventeenth.
00:08:16Look at Coulthard wandering around there.
00:08:18Coulthard picking up a nice slipstream from both the Schumachers there.
00:08:21But remember, in the early stages of Grand Prix, and after pace car situations,
00:08:26we've seen Ralf struggle to really build up to speed as quick as Michael.
00:08:31But at the moment, he's managing to keep that gap.
00:08:33As soon as we can pick up a flying lap time.
00:08:36Of course, it was from a standing start last time around.
00:08:39Now, if we can pick up a flying lap time, we'll see.
00:08:42If Ralf is in the one-minute 16s, and that's Ron Dennis,
00:08:45who's obviously been down to try to understand
00:08:47why one of his cars could not start the race.
00:08:49Ron Dennis yesterday, holding a press conference,
00:08:51was bombarded with questions from the journalists
00:08:54about what is going on with Micah Häkkinen this season.
00:08:56Is he having a dip of form?
00:08:57Is Ron Dennis going to stick with him for next season?
00:08:59What is going on?
00:09:00Everybody's waiting to see whether Häkkinen is going to sign up
00:09:03for a tenth year with the McLaren team,
00:09:05which, of course, would make it an all-time record.
00:09:07One driver with one team, but certainly getting nothing whatsoever
00:09:10out of the French Grand Prix this year.
00:09:12As Ralf Schumacher goes through to begin the third lap,
00:09:15and the man on the move at the moment is Rubens Barrichello,
00:09:17pressing hard in fifth place.
00:09:18Yes, Barrichello started this Grand Prix in eighth,
00:09:21so he leapfrogged both Jordans
00:09:23in the first one or two corners of the lap.
00:09:26We've yet to see a replay, unfortunately, of the start.
00:09:28I hope we're going to cut away to that
00:09:30if the French director will allow us to.
00:09:32But Barrichello, then, with a decent start.
00:09:34And right now, James, I can't see anything.
00:09:37And Ralf, once again, running too deep into Adelaide Hairpin.
00:09:41But I can't see anything. Here we go.
00:09:43Here's a...
00:09:44Yes, we can see that Frentzen was very slow away anyway.
00:09:48The two yellow cars.
00:09:49There is Coulthard and Michael Schumacher.
00:09:51Coulthard running out of space, had to get out of the throttle.
00:09:54And I'm assuming, then, Barrichello in the second Ferrari.
00:09:57You can see him currently in sixth place.
00:09:59Must nail that Jordan on the way down to the Hairpin.
00:10:02But just to finish what I was saying, James,
00:10:04there's nothing out there at the moment.
00:10:05Look, Ralf Schumacher, fastest lap last time around.
00:10:08Nothing I can see at the moment suggests Ralf Schumacher's on a heavy fuel load.
00:10:12No, nothing at all.
00:10:13But there's Ron Dennis speaking with Mika Häkkinen,
00:10:15just calmly and collectively.
00:10:16And, of course, we saw, after the introduction of electronic driver aids,
00:10:20traction control, launch control, those kind of things,
00:10:23we saw that McLaren had all kinds of problems with the new software.
00:10:26They seem to have ironed it out over the last couple of races.
00:10:29But here again, some sort of gremlin has struck.
00:10:31Is it Häkkinen? Is it something in the electronics?
00:10:34Certainly, the last time Häkkinen did that, it was definitely his fault.
00:10:37The team put it down to him.
00:10:38But here today, we wait to find out.
00:10:41But Ralf Schumacher now starting to put a little bit of fresh air
00:10:44between himself and his brother.
00:10:45Seven tenths of a second now he's opened up the gap over Michael Schumacher
00:10:50with David Coulthard keeping right behind the two of them.
00:10:52And I fancy Coulthard this afternoon, Martin,
00:10:54to keep very close to Michael Schumacher, keep watching him.
00:10:57It's certainly, and just to demonstrate how close it is,
00:11:00the first four cars were all within a tenth of a second on that last flying lap.
00:11:05But the man I want to watch is Montoya.
00:11:07He's on the harder tyre. He's got a clean start.
00:11:09He's up there in fourth place, just 2.8 seconds behind his teammate
00:11:13who's leading the Grand Prix.
00:11:15And Montoya then is looking very strong at this stage.
00:11:18Kevin Piper is in the pit lane.
00:11:21Yes, and we've had scenes of absolute chaos and confusion
00:11:23here in the McLaren garage.
00:11:25For about 90 seconds, two minutes, the McLaren mechanics were like bees
00:11:29around the honeypot, around the spare car,
00:11:31rapidly changing it from the settings that were there for David Coulthard
00:11:34in the hope that Micka Hakkinen might be able to start the race in the spare car.
00:11:39They were peeling off the number four, putting on the number three,
00:11:42and then Steve Hallam, one of the top guys at McLaren,
00:11:44walked in and said, no, guys, no hope.
00:11:46Micka is out. He doesn't start.
00:11:48So not for the first time this year, there's been much head-shaking
00:11:51and disappointment in this McLaren garage.
00:11:53Well, the green flag lap counts as one lap of this Grand Prix.
00:11:57So the only way he would be able to start in the spare car
00:12:00is if there was an accident and they red-flagged it
00:12:02before the end of the second lap,
00:12:04and it was a whole new restart of the Grand Prix.
00:12:07I do not believe he would have been allowed to start the race
00:12:09in the spare car without such a situation.
00:12:12Looking at the battle there for 7th, 8th and 9th places,
00:12:16Jacques Villeneuve, Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld.
00:12:19That's the battle for the middle class honours, if you like.
00:12:22The middle race between Jordan, BAR and Sauber,
00:12:25and certainly Jordan having very much the upper hand this weekend.
00:12:28BAR and Sauber have been locked on more or less the same pace
00:12:30with also the Jaguar of Eddie Irvine mixing it up with them.
00:12:33Irvine at the moment is in 12th place behind this group.
00:12:36But you've got Villeneuve, Räikkönen, Heidfeld, Panis and Irvine.
00:12:40A gigantic BAR-Jaguar-Sauber sandwich right in the midfield.
00:12:44And that's just as exciting as what's going on at the front as well.
00:12:46Very close racing here in the midfield.
00:12:48Only two or perhaps three points at stake sometimes.
00:12:51Maybe one, maybe none, as we saw in the Nürburgring two weeks ago,
00:12:55where Jacques Villeneuve drove his heart out to finish in 7th place.
00:12:58But they try very, very hard on a Sunday afternoon.
00:13:00This looks like it's shaping up to be a great battle.
00:13:03And look at the pace of this race, James.
00:13:05The 16.9 that's currently the fastest lap
00:13:07is already a new lap record around this place.
00:13:10It's a 1.17.0 held before.
00:13:13So then already we're seeing, despite them having, say,
00:13:1655 or 60 kilos of fuel on board,
00:13:19remember, 10 kilos of fuel is over three-tenths of a second per lap.
00:13:23And then that must be a technical problem there for Villeneuve, I think,
00:13:26because initially it looked like a small mistake,
00:13:29but then the car has faded away.
00:13:31So that releases Räikkönen and Heidfeld up into that 8th.
00:13:36And we think Villeneuve has actually gone off into the gravel.
00:13:39So, in fact, driven off, apparently.
00:13:41So Villeneuve then, some kind of technical drama
00:13:44in turn to the Estoril corner.
00:13:47The race only five laps old,
00:13:48and we've already got two retirements.
00:13:50Mikko Häkkinen, who never even made the start.
00:13:53And now Jacques Villeneuve as well.
00:13:55Ralf Schumacher, though, continuing his progress at the front.
00:13:58That's Sam Michael, you see, with his back to you,
00:14:01the chief operating engineer.
00:14:03As Jacques Villeneuve walks away,
00:14:05Sam Michael played a big part in the resurgence of this BMW-Williams-Michelin package.
00:14:09He's the man at the racetrack who makes decisions on the technical side.
00:14:13He decides the strategy a bit like Ross Brawn, if you like.
00:14:15So when you think of Ross Brawn doing it for Ferrari,
00:14:17think of Sam Michael doing it for the Williams team.
00:14:19And he's come up with some pretty crafty ones so far,
00:14:22if we think back to the Canadian Grand Prix in particular,
00:14:24where Williams outsmarted Ferrari.
00:14:26But Ralf now starting to put a little bit of air between himself and his brother.
00:14:29Exactly one second, according to our computer.
00:14:33Again, I don't see a lot of waved yellows.
00:14:35I see the green there to say they're clear of the danger zone
00:14:39as they move that stricken BAR.
00:14:41So Ralf then, a second ahead.
00:14:43It was Coulthard who was fastest last time around.
00:14:46It's Nip and Tuck at the front,
00:14:47and Ralf once again taking that wide line through Adelaide hairpin.
00:14:52Of course, we're wondering what strategies all these guys are on.
00:14:55They're running laps in the mid 1 minute 17 range,
00:14:58which suggests they're certainly hustling on,
00:15:01and that suggests to me they're going to be stopping twice.
00:15:03Certainly they're on roughly the same pace and the same kind of strategy,
00:15:07that's for sure, because no one is making a break,
00:15:09no one is holding anybody up.
00:15:11Ralf Schumacher, though, as we look at the waved yellows
00:15:13for that incident of Villeneuve leading the race on lap 6,
00:15:15from Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard still third,
00:15:18Juan Montoya going strongly in fourth place
00:15:20ahead of the fifth place Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello,
00:15:22and then Jarno Trulli going well also in the Jordan in sixth place.
00:15:50RALF SCHUMACHER, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:15:53JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:15:56JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:15:59JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:02JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:05JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:08JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:11JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:14JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:17JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:20JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:23JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:26JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:29JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:32JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:35JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:38JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:41JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:44JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:47JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:50JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:53JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:56JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:16:59JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:17:02JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:17:05JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:17:08JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:17:11JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI,
00:17:14JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI, JARNO TRULLI.
00:17:30Working on lap 9 here of the French Grand Prix, and the man who turned 26 yesterday,
00:17:45Ralf Schumacher, leading this race.
00:17:46You're looking down there, a second ago, at the BAR Garage.
00:17:49Jacques Villeneuve has retired from this motor race, as we saw a few laps ago.
00:17:54He is the first to retire from the race proper, Mika Hakkinen, of course, retiring before
00:17:59the race even started.
00:18:00Michael Schumacher dropping back more and more each lap now.
00:18:03From that particular lap, he was 4 tenths of a second slower than his younger brother.
00:18:08He's now 1.4 seconds behind, with David Coulthard keeping in touch, Montoya also keeping in
00:18:14touch.
00:18:15They're all watching each other, playing a game of cat and mouse, and that beautiful
00:18:18shot there, aerial shot from the helicopter of the BMW Williams, and the BMW pushing that
00:18:24car along the straights like nobody's business.
00:18:27All weekend, we've seen them 8 or 9 km an hour faster down the straights than the Ferraris
00:18:32and the McLaren and Mercedes, and looking now at Heinz-Harald Frentzen battling with
00:18:37Kimi Räikkönen, the resurgent young 21-year-old Finnish driver who is currently in 8th place.
00:18:44And the Brits then, 3rd for Coulthard, Irvine in 11th, still chasing Pannis very hard, Jensen
00:18:50Button 15th ahead of team-mate Fizikela, who's 16th, so a moderate afternoon so far, Coulthard
00:18:56desperately needing to stay in touch with Michael Schumacher, his championship contender
00:19:00in front of him.
00:19:01But a double-edged sword for McLaren today, with Häkkinen not starting this race, is
00:19:06of course Williams are just 16 points behind them in the Constructors' World Championship,
00:19:11and Ralf himself is a mere 19 points behind David Coulthard, who's 2nd in the World Championship,
00:19:20so with a lot of points to play for this year, the kind of performance we've seen from Ralf
00:19:24and his Williams of recent times, Ralf suddenly bringing himself right into contention.
00:19:29Yes, he's been dismissing his own championship hopes, but I'm with you Martin, I think if
00:19:33he wins a few more races, and particularly if Michael Schumacher has any run of bad luck,
00:19:37then it could certainly, the pendulum could swing Ralf Schumacher's way as we continue
00:19:40to watch this battle, you can see on your screen between 7th and 8th place, Heinz-Harald
00:19:44Frentzen and Kimi Räikkönen, Frentzen not having a fantastic weekend here, once again
00:19:49out-qualified by his team-mate Jarno Trulli, just 6 tenths of a second between the two
00:19:53of them, and managing to hold off Räikkönen, who we just run out of superlatives to speak
00:19:57about Räikkönen, haven't we Martin, he just keeps moving, qualifying well, keeps moving
00:20:01forward in the races.
00:20:02Yes, and here he is once again in front of Heidfeld, his much more experienced team-mate,
00:20:06and especially here in all places James, Heidfeld being a Prost driver last year, would have
00:20:11tested here just about every other week, but no testing here, or anywhere else this week,
00:20:16during the week of a Grand Prix, it's not possible, but they have had back-to-back Grand
00:20:20Prix's of course, they were racing last weekend in Germany, and that's an unusual situation
00:20:26these days, because it takes so long to demand the paddock and the digital TV compound, it's
00:20:31very unusual for them to have back-to-back races now, it takes too long to re-establish
00:20:35it in a different part of the world, they've done it because of the location this week,
00:20:39but the drivers then fighting hard for the second consecutive Sunday, but that should
00:20:44not be a problem to them.
00:20:45Extremely well, Kimi Räikkönen, if you reflect, he actually started 13th on the grid as well
00:20:49Martin, so he's made up 5 places in the first few laps, we're looking now at the race leader
00:20:53Ralf Schumacher, currently enjoying a 1.4 second lead over his brother Michael, with
00:20:59David Coulthard in 3rd place, and we should turn our attention now, I think, to the strategy
00:21:02side of things, we mentioned at the outset, you can go 1, 2 or 3 stops, doesn't look to
00:21:06me as though any of these guys are stopping just once, do you think they're all on a 2?
00:21:10Nobody seems to be making any breaks today.
00:21:12No, I think they're going to be pitting roughly the same time, I would guess lap 25, lap 26,
00:21:18something like that, maybe a lap earlier for some of them.
00:21:21From what I understand, talking to the various teams, they all agree on this, there's no
00:21:25point running shorter or longer, there's an optimum time to make your pit stop with your
00:21:30tyre degradation, which is a fraction of a second per lap, and that's when you should
00:21:35come in the pits, if you want to maximise your on-track time.
00:21:38So, anyone of the top 4 at the moment could certainly win this race, we've lost Mikko
00:21:42Häkkinen, who was another potential race winner, but the 2-stop strategy would see
00:21:47the drivers coming in for their first stop around about lap 24 to 26, and then their
00:21:51second stop around about lap 45, that's what we're expecting to see this afternoon, we
00:21:55can have lead changes on the track, we can have lead changes in the pits, an awful long
00:21:59way to go at the moment in this 71-lap French Grand Prix.
00:22:02I think there'll be a few mechanics just beginning to stretch their muscles and crack their knuckles
00:22:07down in that pit lane, because it's just that kind of afternoon where the mechanics make
00:22:13the difference for the result of the Grand Prix, James.
00:22:16Yes, I've seen it many times, been down in the garages myself, but Louise Goodman has
00:22:20news for us from Mikko Häkkinen.
00:22:22Yes, I have Mikko with me now.
00:22:23Mikko, I know you're not able to tell us exactly what happened, but just tell us the thoughts
00:22:27that went through your mind when you stopped on the grid there.
00:22:30Well, I think simply it's just what's going on in my mind at that time, you know, it's
00:22:34feeling like you can't believe it, you can't believe how bad luck I had that kind of situation,
00:22:42you know, when the engine started, I thought everything is fine, and then suddenly it stopped,
00:22:47and I just sat there and the team mechanics tried to do everything to make the car start
00:22:52again, so I was super disappointed, but I walked away again and said, well, just have
00:23:03to look to the future and try still to look very positive, you know.
00:23:11Thanks, Mikko.
00:23:13Yeah, I mean, it's tough, isn't it, and especially after such a disappointment, the adrenaline
00:23:17was getting ready to boil up, and all of a sudden it just falls completely flat on you,
00:23:22good of Mikko to talk to Louise in that situation, but clearly doesn't want to have to explain
00:23:28what exactly went wrong, he can't explain why probably at this time, it'll need looking
00:23:32at through the data acquisition on the car, but Mikko Häkkinen then out of this Grand
00:23:38Prix, and he remains on 9 World Championship points only.
00:23:41After 10 races it will be at the end of this one, Michael Schumacher though setting a new
00:23:45lap record, a 1.16.848, just closing the gap just a little bit to his brother Ralph, who
00:23:50still leads, that's Rubens Barrichello, who's still in 5th place with Juan Montoya, there
00:23:55he is in 4th place just ahead of him, and also a man worth watching, but let's just
00:23:59talk about this brotherly love thing, Martin, between Ralph Schumacher and Michael Schumacher,
00:24:04obviously a little bit of a fallout after the Nürburgring race, where we initially
00:24:08thought as we left the circuit on a Sunday night, it was because Ralph felt Michael had
00:24:12tried to push him into the wall off the start line, but now they're trying to make us believe
00:24:16that in fact it was just Ralph was upset at the stop and go penalty he received, and both
00:24:20brothers saying, nothing between us, we're as close as we've ever been, what's your spin
00:24:24on it?
00:24:25Well the Schumacher brothers are now a worldwide brand, aren't they, and of course everybody
00:24:28is going to want to try and get a jemmy bar between the pair of them, and understand what
00:24:32they really do tell each other when they're laying on the beach in the winter or whatever,
00:24:36do they talk tyres, do they talk team personnel, how much do they really tell each other, and
00:24:42how long then, how long will Michael Schumacher carry on saying, look, hey I don't mind, I
00:24:47don't mind finishing 2nd if my brother wins the race, and I don't believe that, it's going
00:24:52to be, in my experience of Formula 1, impossible for these two Schumachers to end up, or remain
00:25:00very close through what is going to, they're both now nailed to their teams, they're both
00:25:04now nailed to their teams for another 2 or 3 years, we're going to see a lot of head-to-head
00:25:07action, and Louise is with Jacques Villeneuve.
00:25:10I am indeed Martin, Jacques any ideas what stopped you?
00:25:13Oh electrical, I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly it switched off.
00:25:16We saw you looking down into the cockpit, were you hopeful that you could rectify the
00:25:19problem, or were you just trying to work out what it was?
00:25:21Well I was wondering if there was any button I could press that would do something, but
00:25:25no, the car just switched off.
00:25:27Bad luck, thanks.
00:25:28Sounds like he was looking for the ejector seat there, he sounds pretty unhappy about
00:25:32all of that, it's not been a great season for Jacques Villeneuve, that's for sure, and
00:25:36Fredson then continues to be under pressure from 8th place man, Kimi Räikkönen.
00:25:42Jacques Villeneuve's not scored any points for 3 races, it's an awful long time for the
00:25:471997 World Champion, but these two going at it hammer and tongs, because of course although
00:25:51they're only in 7th and 8th place at the moment, they're still only on lap 16, an awful long
00:25:55way to go, and they could well end up with points at the end of the day if they keep
00:25:58pressing on.
00:25:59Where did Räikkönen go?
00:26:00He may well have gone in the pit lane, you can easily disappear, and Räikkönen then
00:26:04is going for an extraordinarily early stop, so it looks like he's either decided to stop
00:26:11early within his two stopper, and try to clear Fredson, I doubt it, because he's going to
00:26:16go back out into the pack in a lot more traffic, and get held up anyway, or he's on a three
00:26:21stopper, which is probably more likely.
00:26:24Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher has done a new lap record of a 1.16.6 this time around, as
00:26:30the fuel load begins to ebb away.
00:26:32Strange decision there by the Sauber team to bring Kimi Räikkönen in, possibly he
00:26:36had a slow puncture, something along those lines, although he seemed to be harrying Heinz
00:26:40Albrechtsen, it's too early really to come in on a three stop strategy, and he put far
00:26:44too much fuel in for it to be a three stopper as well.
00:26:46We'll keep an eye on what Kimi Räikkönen is doing, but at the moment Ralf Schumacher
00:26:49is pressing on, a new lap record from him, a 1.16.667, he leads after 15 laps from Michael
00:26:55Schumacher, 1.6 seconds the margin between the two of them.
00:26:58Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:27:03leader in sixth place.
00:27:19Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:27:23leader in sixth place.
00:27:49Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:27:53leader in sixth place.
00:28:19Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:28:23leader in sixth place.
00:28:49Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:28:53leader in sixth place.
00:28:55Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:28:59leader in sixth place.
00:29:01Kulthard is third, Montoya fourth, Barrichello fifth, and Trulli only 15 seconds behind the
00:29:05leader in sixth place.
00:29:17...of the French Grand Prix, and this is Eddie Irvine putting enormous pressure on
00:29:22the BAR of Olivier Panis.
00:29:24This is the battle for ninth place.
00:29:26Could yield points at the end of the day, so everything is at stake here for both of
00:29:30these drivers.
00:29:32They're fighting tooth and nail at the moment.
00:29:34Irvine has been much quicker than Panis through the final stages of the lap, and
00:29:38they're chucking the car all over the place in his attempts to get past the
00:29:42British-American racing car.
00:29:44Amazingly, that's Enrico Bernaldi pulling off in the Arrows Asiatek.
00:29:48He was down in 13th place, but it looks like his race is run.
00:29:53But this is the battle, as I say, between Panis and Irvine.
00:29:57Panis yet never scored points, would you believe, in the French Grand Prix,
00:30:00his home Grand Prix in all those years, as we look at the timing standard of Jaguar.
00:30:04And once again, you can see that Eddie Irvine has lost ground through that first
00:30:09corner, so Panis able to use the Honda power, but Ralf Schumacher pulling out
00:30:13yet more of a margin, more speed at 116.585.
00:30:17And he's certainly belying all the comments we made about those Michelin soft
00:30:21tyres.
00:30:22At the moment, he's finding more and more speed and more and more grip from Martin.
00:30:25Gerhard Berg was saying to me he didn't believe there was much time difference
00:30:28actually between the soft and the hard that his two drivers are on, but he said
00:30:33I'm really not at all sure about the durability.
00:30:36But they're on their 20th lap, and so far they're looking pretty durable.
00:30:40Another six or seven, and we're expecting them in for a pit stop.
00:30:44So no dramas at all then for Ralf Schumacher.
00:30:46He's just holding on to that 1.7 second lead.
00:30:51But the first five cars, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard-Montoya,
00:30:56Barrichello, and all lapping in the late 1.16.
00:31:01And still only 10 seconds between them, 1st to 5th, so it's very, very close.
00:31:05Kevin Piper, what can you tell us?
00:31:06Yeah, just to underpin the point you're making about tyres, they're down here
00:31:09in the Williams garage.
00:31:10We're in stark contrast to the earlier scenes at McLaren.
00:31:13It's all cool, calm, collected.
00:31:15Patrick Head and the team with their eyes firmly fixed on the various screens
00:31:19and monitors here, charting the progress.
00:31:21But the point is worth making that Juan Pablo Montoya was absolutely adamant
00:31:26after qualifying yesterday that he had made the right choice.
00:31:29The hard tyre, in his view, was his best chance of getting a good result.
00:31:33And a quick word about the rivals, Bridgestone, Coulthard, and Schumacher,
00:31:37both big fans.
00:31:38And one tyre technician described them as having really good grip,
00:31:41but above everything, fantastic durability.
00:31:44So it all makes for an intriguing battle.
00:31:47Jenson Button pitting there from 13th position,
00:31:50and showing that they were on a relatively light fuel load
00:31:53at the beginning of the race.
00:31:54So bad news there for Jenson.
00:31:55That's put him down to 15th.
00:31:57Räikkönen, who made that very early stop, I think you're right, James.
00:32:00Räikkönen's stop could not have been a scheduled one in any way, shape or form.
00:32:04And that's put him back down in 14th place.
00:32:07Shame for him.
00:32:08But up at the front, it's still equally tight.
00:32:10Now, you'll have seen when Jenson Button made that pit stop
00:32:13that the front tyres he put onto the car
00:32:15looked like they'd already done a race distance.
00:32:17And that's because with these softer Michelin tyres,
00:32:19they're all having to do what they call scrubbing them in.
00:32:22Just putting a few laps on them first.
00:32:23Now, you look at the tyres there of Ralf Schumacher, the race leader.
00:32:26He's on the same kind of tyres as Jenson Button.
00:32:29And I understand that they needed to start this race on tyres
00:32:32which had done 13 laps at least.
00:32:34And that's certainly what looks like what Button had just put on his car.
00:32:37And no doubt Ralf Schumacher, when he comes in for his stop,
00:32:39sometime in the next five or six laps, he'll be putting the same on.
00:32:42But just look how close it still is at the front.
00:32:45Still, only 10 seconds separating first to fifth.
00:32:48And they're amongst the backmarkers then, James,
00:32:50albeit the ones that have stopped.
00:32:52And the teams very much calculate this
00:32:54when they're working out their strategy for the afternoon.
00:32:56How long will it be into the race,
00:32:58given normal lap differences between the front and rear of the grid,
00:33:02before they catch the backmarkers?
00:33:08Unfortunately for Jenson Button, he is one of the backmarkers.
00:33:12And right below us, we have the Ferrari mechanics
00:33:14coming out now to make a pit stop.
00:33:16Just looking to see, I think it might well be Michael Schumacher
00:33:19who's coming in.
00:33:20And it's Rubens Barrichello, in fact.
00:33:21Rubens Barrichello coming in to make his first stop from fifth place.
00:33:28No apparent dramas at the moment.
00:33:30Revs are up.
00:33:31He's disappeared from underneath our commentary box.
00:33:33And away goes Rubens Barrichello into that new pit exit
00:33:37where you feed in much later.
00:33:39Some of the drivers have been unhappy about that,
00:33:41but it's certainly a better solution
00:33:43than feeding you in right into the heart of Turn 1.
00:33:45But I think there is a point where the cars
00:33:48come very, very close together at a very high speed.
00:33:52Some of the drivers are uncomfortable with that.
00:33:54But that then is Heidfeld in for his first stop of the afternoon.
00:33:58And Michael Schumacher there, currently still in second place.
00:34:022.4 seconds now behind Ralph.
00:34:04Yes, Ralph has cleared Jenson Button,
00:34:06though Michael Schumacher still has yet to do so.
00:34:10And we're entering the zone now for the first pit stops.
00:34:13Everybody looking very carefully at what everybody else is doing.
00:34:15You can see this is the battle now.
00:34:17Irvine got in front of Olivier Panis.
00:34:19This is the battle for ninth place.
00:34:20Here's how he did it.
00:34:21So it's into the last part.
00:34:22And he's going to take the big Banzai up the inside into Lise.
00:34:26That's a cheeky move, but it pays off
00:34:28as long as you have a willing partner.
00:34:30And that's a clever move from Irvine.
00:34:32One he had to make.
00:34:33He has a much faster car.
00:34:35And Panis then really not fighting that one too hard, James.
00:34:38He seemed very wide over, didn't he?
00:34:39It's almost like inviting him through.
00:34:41Yeah, I think he saw it launched.
00:34:43And once you're elected to have a go at that move,
00:34:46there's a one-way street.
00:34:48You switch that move on.
00:34:49You cannot switch it back off again halfway through.
00:34:52And I think we all know that.
00:34:53We've all achieved that move at some point or other.
00:34:55We've all been victims of the same move.
00:34:57What do you do?
00:34:58Just close your eyes and hope for the best?
00:35:00It's a little bit like that.
00:35:01And you launch into that last corner.
00:35:02You think, well, why didn't I go into that as fast as that every time?
00:35:05Eddie Irvine's made it work for him.
00:35:07I wonder whether it looks like Olivier Panis
00:35:10might well have dived into the pits there,
00:35:12having got past by Eddie Irvine.
00:35:14But there's your race leader still,
00:35:16after 22 laps of this 71-lap French Grand Prix,
00:35:18approaching the first round of pit stops.
00:35:20Ralf Schumacher still by 2.4 seconds from his brother, Michael.
00:35:23Coulthard's set his third, just another two seconds down.
00:35:26And then it's Montoya and Trulli.
00:35:28So very much action stations coming up.
00:35:30It makes sense that Barrichello's pitting earlier than the others.
00:35:33Remember, he started in 8th place on the grid.
00:35:36By having 10 or 15 kilos less fuel,
00:35:38he had a much better chance of overtaking in the early few corners.
00:35:42And, of course, he made that payoff very nicely.
00:35:45As Jean Alessi, then, in the Prost Acer,
00:35:48makes his stop.
00:35:50Some very used Michelins going on.
00:35:528.4 seconds.
00:35:53I don't know why they keep cutting away to the pit wall
00:35:56when they're doing that.
00:35:57It'd be nice to see the cars depart.
00:35:59They were absolutely exasperated in the Prost Garage
00:36:03qualifying yesterday.
00:36:04Apparently, Jean Alessi could not get his head into gear at all.
00:36:06It was a French Grand Prix.
00:36:07Maybe he was just overexcited.
00:36:09But he was over a second slower than his teammate, Luciano Berti.
00:36:12Apparently, all his discipline of all these years of racing,
00:36:14he's been in Formula 1 now for 12 years,
00:36:16all went completely out the window.
00:36:18And he completely underperformed yesterday.
00:36:19He just got too emotional.
00:36:20We saw in the build-up to this show just how emotional he can be.
00:36:23Obviously, very excited about his work for F1 ITV this week, James.
00:36:27I'd imagine the fact that he was going to be on the telly today
00:36:30may be that spoiled his concentration.
00:36:32But Barrichello, then.
00:36:33That's a very, very fast lap by him on the fresh tyres.
00:36:37That's an indication of just how much the fresh tyres are worth.
00:36:39Because, of course, Barrichello will have taken on quite a bit of fuel.
00:36:42That should slow him down.
00:36:43But no, it's speeding him up.
00:36:45Because the tyres on the lead cars now are beginning to show their age,
00:36:48just as we predicted.
00:36:49We're on the 24th lap.
00:36:50And this is the Williams pit crew
00:36:52getting ready to receive one of their two drivers.
00:36:54They're both contenders in this race.
00:36:56Ralf Schumacher, of course, is leading.
00:36:57Juan Montoro is in 4th place.
00:36:59And it's Ralf Schumacher who comes in.
00:37:01He's the race leader on lap 25
00:37:03to make his first pit stop bang on schedule.
00:37:08Tidy work so far.
00:37:09Fuel going in.
00:37:10Look at how old those tyres are, Martin.
00:37:11Yeah, they look well tatted, don't they?
00:37:13But clearly they're about to do the job.
00:37:15And that looked like a longish stop to me.
00:37:17That did not do the job.
00:37:19Yes, that's at least two seconds longer
00:37:21than it should normally take for a two-stop pit stop.
00:37:23So the window has now been opened for Ferrari.
00:37:25Michael Schumacher, can he get the hammer down?
00:37:27He was just 2.4 seconds behind his brother
00:37:30when his brother made his pit stop that time round.
00:37:33And Ralf certainly seemed to have the fuel hose on for quite a while.
00:37:36But I think the delay there,
00:37:38I think the delay there was the right rear tyre.
00:37:41And it wasn't all fuel that went in there
00:37:43by any stretch of the imagination.
00:37:45So Michael Schumacher, can he do enough now
00:37:47to get it in the pit stops to take the lead?
00:37:49And the pit stop, I believe, James, will be this lap.
00:37:51Once again, there's an army of Ferrari mechanics
00:37:55in scarlet overalls and scarlet crash helmets
00:37:57underneath our window.
00:38:00Michael Schumacher in Chateau d'Eau.
00:38:02A couple of corners now to the entry of the pit lane.
00:38:06We think he will clearly be in this time.
00:38:08And they're putting brand new tyres on,
00:38:10I can see, underneath there.
00:38:12And he'll duck left now.
00:38:14And there he goes. Schumacher then,
00:38:16your current race leader in the pit.
00:38:18Well, he's had his fastest first sector of the entire race
00:38:20at the beginning of this lap.
00:38:22His middle sector wasn't too bad.
00:38:24He was two seconds behind his brother when he came in.
00:38:26But after a slow stop for Williams,
00:38:28they lost time. What's going to happen here?
00:38:30A cracking stop by Ferrari.
00:38:32Is this going to be enough for Michael Schumacher
00:38:34to take the race lead?
00:38:36He's going so slow, it must feel like an eternity
00:38:38down the pit lane. And has he done enough?
00:38:40I believe he will have done enough.
00:38:42I would be very surprised if that's not enough
00:38:44for Michael Schumacher to have got out
00:38:46in front of Ralf.
00:38:48It was a turn a bit second, quicker stop.
00:38:50He had a quick in lap too.
00:38:52Yeah, there he is.
00:38:54There he's done it.
00:38:56He's promoted to second place.
00:38:58We think he took on about
00:39:0074 litres of fuel.
00:39:02So a moderately short
00:39:04middle stint of the race then for Michael Schumacher.
00:39:06Yes, and of course we saw
00:39:08Ralf Schumacher being delayed in the pits.
00:39:10But I don't believe that was all fuel going in.
00:39:12I do believe it was a slight problem with the rear tyre.
00:39:14We'll have to have that checked out.
00:39:16But obviously it'll make a big difference to when they make
00:39:18their second stops. Michael Schumacher,
00:39:20we're expecting to come in around the mid-lap 40s.
00:39:22But here's a man who still has not made his pit stop.
00:39:24David Coulthard, currently in second place.
00:39:26Just one second behind Michael Schumacher
00:39:28on the racetrack. When he rejoins
00:39:30he's going to come in at around about fifth place,
00:39:32I think, behind Ralf Schumacher
00:39:34as Jos Verstappen makes his first stop of the afternoon.
00:39:36So they're all choosing the optimum
00:39:38strategy finally then.
00:39:40And here then is Coulthard. He goes a little bit
00:39:42further down the pit lane to find
00:39:44his crew. Of course, they were second
00:39:46in last year's World Championships, so they're positioned
00:39:48second in the pit lane
00:39:50at every circuit we go to.
00:39:52And they're looking like they're fueling him
00:39:54slightly longer for
00:39:56David Coulthard. I believe he will
00:39:58stay in effectively what
00:40:00is third place. Although, of course,
00:40:02Montoya, your fourth place man
00:40:04previously, has not yet stopped.
00:40:06But of course, Coulthard was racing with Michael Schumacher,
00:40:08was only a second shy of him. Is he going to rejoin?
00:40:10Where is Michael Schumacher?
00:40:12Is that Michael Schumacher behind Coulthard? I wonder
00:40:14if it is. I think it is. Do you think so?
00:40:16I think it's more likely to be Barrichello.
00:40:18He's been lapping quickly. So there's Ralf
00:40:20in the picture, and there's Coulthard
00:40:22shaping up to pass
00:40:24the Minardi. But
00:40:26I think Barrichello, we remember, he pitted early,
00:40:28put in those very fast laps, and it's
00:40:30helped his race enormously. Coulthard
00:40:32must have lost a little time, though, as well, Martin, I think,
00:40:34because he was only a second behind Michael Schumacher
00:40:36when he dived in for that stop. So,
00:40:38that's Rubens Barrichello down
00:40:40in fifth place. Coulthard then
00:40:42drops down just in front of him. Montoya
00:40:44has not yet stopped. How much fuel has this man
00:40:46got on board? That's the $10 million
00:40:48question, of course. He's using the harder
00:40:50of the Michelin tyres, and
00:40:52Juan Montoya now in the box seats
00:40:54as far as this Grand Prix is concerned.
00:40:56All eyes at Michelin will be very much on him,
00:40:58of course. This is their first home Grand
00:41:00Prix since their return to Formula
00:41:021 after a long absence.
00:41:04Their first pole position this weekend with
00:41:06Ralf Schumacher, and is Juan Montoya
00:41:08going to get his first Grand Prix victory
00:41:10this weekend, as well? Can I tell you something, James?
00:41:12If he's won stopping, he's won the race,
00:41:14because he's been able to match
00:41:16the early runners, and
00:41:18we know he's got the harder tyres on.
00:41:20If he did, and I'd be amazed if he did,
00:41:22because he should not be going that quickly,
00:41:24given the fuel load necessary to do
00:41:26that. But Montoya then, marching
00:41:28on his way. Lap 28
00:41:30of this Grand Prix, and last
00:41:32time around he had a nine-second
00:41:34advantage over Michael Schumacher.
00:41:36As Eddie Irvine comes into the pits,
00:41:38this is lap 28 now. Quite a late
00:41:40stop for a
00:41:42two-stopper, but certainly
00:41:44Juan Montoya, after qualifying yesterday,
00:41:46I mentioned he was feeling very bullish, and he
00:41:48did mention, he did say, that he felt
00:41:50there was a possibility of taking a few risks
00:41:52this afternoon. He said, I feel I might
00:41:54do something different in the race tomorrow, certainly
00:41:56something very different from Ralf. It looks at the moment
00:41:58as though he's gone that way. He made a different
00:42:00choice on tyres. Has the strategy
00:42:02played out for Juan Montoya?
00:42:04Mind you, he was a second slower than
00:42:06Michael Schumacher, last
00:42:08time around. So, right now
00:42:10then, it's Michael that's making
00:42:12the moves on the racetrack. Michael was very,
00:42:14very fast. A 1.16.2, well over
00:42:16a second quicker than anybody else.
00:42:18Although, of course, some of the key players
00:42:20are in traffic, as indeed
00:42:22Montoya then. So, what will the gap be
00:42:24this time around? It was 8.7,
00:42:26it's now 8.1, so
00:42:28another six-tenths of a second
00:42:30eeked out of that lead by Michael
00:42:32Schumacher. So, Montoya leading
00:42:34then after 28 laps, 8.1 seconds
00:42:36as you've just seen the gap between himself
00:42:38and Michael Schumacher in second place.
00:42:40Schumacher in the second of the two Williamses,
00:42:42his third, with David Coulthard
00:42:44fourth. 16 seconds
00:42:46behind the race leader, but
00:42:48just eight seconds behind Michael Schumacher.
00:42:50And then we've got Rubens Barrichello,
00:42:52another couple of seconds behind
00:42:54Coulthard. Irvine coming into play.
00:42:56Although he's just made his pit stops, I'm sure
00:42:58when the computer shakes out, he'll drop down a little bit.
00:43:00In fact, he does. Jarno Trulli now
00:43:02appearing in sixth place. We haven't
00:43:04seen him come in for this. He must have made a pit stop
00:43:06actually, because he's now dropped down
00:43:08a full 20 seconds
00:43:10behind Rubens Barrichello. So, quite a lot
00:43:12of margins, in fact,
00:43:14opening up in those pit stops. You can see the variable
00:43:16ability of the pit crews and the timing
00:43:18of the in-laps and the out-laps. We had the top
00:43:20five separated by just 10 seconds
00:43:22before the pit stops. Now,
00:43:24they're separated by 18 seconds.
00:43:26Yes, and we have seen
00:43:28Ross Braun play this shorter middle
00:43:30stint to great effect many times,
00:43:32assuming I'm right on that. But
00:43:34of course, the fuel flows in
00:43:36at about 12 litres per second,
00:43:388 kilos per second, and that's
00:43:40how we know roughly how much they put
00:43:42in. But I agree with you. I think Ralph's stop
00:43:44was lengthened because of a slight
00:43:46delay on one of the wheels, rather than
00:43:48having put in that much
00:43:50fuel. And Kevin Piper is down at the
00:43:52Williams pit. Yeah, I'm not sure how much I can
00:43:54tell you other than, hold it, in fact, I
00:43:56think it's right to say that Montoya could
00:43:58be coming in this lap, or could be
00:44:00coming in within the next couple of laps. I was
00:44:02going to speculate that he could be on a one-stopper
00:44:04on the back of some information I've been
00:44:06given, but all they're saying now is
00:44:08that Ralph Schumacher's stop was on schedule
00:44:10and it looks as if Montoya
00:44:12is on his way here now.
00:44:14We're watching
00:44:16Michael Schumacher at this
00:44:18time, and hopefully if Montoya does
00:44:20pit, we will pick that up. It's
00:44:22down then at the Nürburgring chicane.
00:44:24Michael Schumacher has pulled
00:44:26the lead back now to 6.6
00:44:28seconds behind this
00:44:30man, Montoya. He's got
00:44:32a bit of traffic ahead of him. He should
00:44:34not really have to
00:44:36clear that car before he enters the
00:44:38pit this time around, and we believe
00:44:40the pit crew are out. Yes, indeed.
00:44:42The Williams pit crew are ready
00:44:44to receive Montoya, and he
00:44:46has lost a bit of time. The Prost
00:44:48then making a bit of a
00:44:50fuss about letting him through, so Montoya
00:44:52into the pit lane. The team
00:44:54will be very ready for him. Out of the lead,
00:44:56into the pits. So the tell-tale
00:44:58thing now is how long the fuel hose goes
00:45:00on for. Juan Montoya, the race leader,
00:45:02comes in. The fuel hose is on now.
00:45:04The stopwatch is running. If it's
00:45:06anything more than about 9 or
00:45:0810 seconds, he could well be fueling it to
00:45:10go to the finish. It's not. He's going a two-stop
00:45:12strategy, so that means that Michael
00:45:14Schumacher leads the race from
00:45:16Ralf Schumacher. David Coulthard is
00:45:18third. Rubens Barrichello as well is
00:45:20in the mix. Where's Montoya going to rejoin?
00:45:22Into the mix
00:45:24as Juan Montoya took on
00:45:26just under 90 litres of fuel,
00:45:28and that'll take him deep into the early
00:45:30lap 50s, I would imagine, which will make him
00:45:32again the last stopper.
00:45:34And so a very interesting cat-and-mouse
00:45:36afternoon here, tactically.
00:45:38And you're looking there at Michael
00:45:40Schumacher, the new race leader,
00:45:42after Juan Montoya made
00:45:44his stop there. And
00:45:46Ralf Schumacher not far behind him. 6.8
00:45:48seconds behind him, though, so it's played out quite
00:45:50nicely for Michael Schumacher. He managed to get
00:45:52ahead of his brother, as you look at this timing wall there,
00:45:54Ferrari. Jean Todd on the right, the
00:45:56sporting director, and
00:45:58Ross Braun on the left. It's played out
00:46:00very nicely, this, for Michael Schumacher, hasn't it, Martin?
00:46:02It has indeed, but the real race at the moment
00:46:04is Coulthard has closed down to
00:46:06Ralf Schumacher by
00:46:08just 1.2
00:46:10seconds, and we believe
00:46:12there's a 10-second stop-and-go
00:46:14penalty for Coulthard
00:46:16for pit lane speeding. We think
00:46:18David Coulthard's about to get
00:46:20a stop-and-go. What a
00:46:22disaster that is. Michael Schumacher
00:46:24moves into the lead, a 10-pointer.
00:46:26Coulthard, at least, is on 4
00:46:28in 3rd at this time, and
00:46:30he is now going to get a stop-and-go.
00:46:32The margin, of course, already between them in the World
00:46:34Championship is 24 points, so
00:46:36another solid 10 out of 10 for Michael
00:46:38Schumacher this afternoon, and
00:46:40Null Point for Coulthard will pretty much
00:46:42put another nail in the coffin of Coulthard's
00:46:44championship hopes, although we still, of course,
00:46:46and there's the confirmation, we still have
00:46:48plenty of races left in this World Championship
00:46:50yet. Another 7
00:46:52years, and, well, a very
00:46:54forlorn McLaren pit crew now coming out
00:46:56to get the stopwatch ready
00:46:58to time David Coulthard's
00:47:00stop-and-go, because, of course, the team have to do it themselves, don't they,
00:47:02Martin? Yes, they do. He will stop at his own
00:47:04garage, and they cannot touch the car.
00:47:06He has to be stationary for at least
00:47:0810 seconds, and while
00:47:10that's the second consecutive Sunday,
00:47:12a good race has been spoiled by
00:47:14necessary penalties, I'm afraid. I mean,
00:47:16you can't even stop and talk to the policeman
00:47:18and try and talk your way out of that and
00:47:20pretend you're on your way to your wife having a baby
00:47:22or something, can you? You're nicked, and that's it.
00:47:24You've got to come in, argue about it
00:47:26later with the judge.
00:47:28One member of our team, of course, this weekend has already
00:47:30had a run-in with the constabulary
00:47:32on the speeding offence. David Coulthard
00:47:34is just going to be having
00:47:36to come in and make his 10-second
00:47:38stop-and-go penalty. Here he is, diving into
00:47:40the pit lane, was in third place.
00:47:42This is going to drop him down, I imagine, to about
00:47:447th, 6th or 7th place,
00:47:46possibly behind Jarno Trulli, a disaster
00:47:48for David Coulthard. Trulli's about
00:47:5034 seconds behind
00:47:52the 6th place man. This will definitely
00:47:54put Coulthard, though, down into
00:47:565th place. Did you see Barrichello?
00:47:58He was only 2 seconds behind him anyway.
00:48:00Barrichello having a tidy middle part
00:48:02of this Grand Prix as Coulthard
00:48:04rejoins and
00:48:06once again, Berti
00:48:08clumsily letting people past him.
00:48:10Yes. Berti
00:48:12down in 12th
00:48:14place. Not a bad run for him, but he's already been
00:48:16lapped. We've lapped everybody now up to 11th
00:48:18place. The next man to be lapped will be
00:48:20Olivier Pannis and the man who'll be doing it
00:48:22will be this man here, Michael Schumacher, currently
00:48:24leading the World Championship and currently
00:48:26leading the French Grand Prix. Already a
00:48:28four-times winner here. He's
00:48:307.7 seconds
00:48:32clear of his brother, Ralph. Rubens Barrichello in
00:48:34third place, Coulthard fourth,
00:48:36Montoya fifth, Jarno Trulli sixth,
00:48:38Heidfeld and Frentzen having a great battle
00:48:40in 7th place. Then it's Irvine
00:48:42in the Jaguar 9th and Kimi Räikkönen
00:48:44still going strongly in 10th place
00:48:46in the Sauber.
00:49:44So
00:50:14so
00:50:20so
00:50:28so
00:50:40so
00:50:44so
00:50:58so
00:51:00approaching half distance then in the French
00:51:02Grand Prix. You've missed nothing. Michael Schumacher
00:51:04still leading this race by 10 seconds
00:51:06now from his brother, Ralph, with Rubens
00:51:08Barrichello in the second. Ferrari has
00:51:10been the major benefactor of the first
00:51:12stops. He's now just one second
00:51:14behind Ralph Schumacher and pressing
00:51:16very hard indeed. That last
00:51:18lap he was eight-tenths of a second
00:51:20faster than the Williams driver. In fourth
00:51:22place, we still have the second BMW
00:51:24Williams of Juan Montoya and
00:51:26David Coulthard did manage to re-emerge
00:51:28in front of Jarno Trulli. He's
00:51:30fifth, Trulli is sixth and
00:51:32that is Rubens Barrichello on screen
00:51:34currently running in third.
00:51:36Yeah, Barrichello started eighth, up
00:51:38to third and look, just 1.1
00:51:40seconds behind Ralph Schumacher. The
00:51:42Ferrari working beautifully. A lot of
00:51:44talk that those Bridgestones have been
00:51:46blistering under heavy
00:51:48load through the weekend but I think, once
00:51:50again, it's a similar situation where they blister
00:51:52on the inside shoulder of the rears
00:51:54and the drivers don't really know about it until
00:51:56they're told or until they come in the pits
00:51:58sometimes later. So, the Ferrari's
00:52:00working absolutely beautifully this afternoon
00:52:02and it's Ralph Schumacher coming under
00:52:04pressure. The very man we expected
00:52:06to be pressurising the Ferrari.
00:52:08Absolutely, although I do wonder, we talked
00:52:10in the early stages about the tyre wear
00:52:12situation and, of course, Ralph Schumacher
00:52:14is using the softer Michelins. He's not going
00:52:16as quickly in this middle phase of the race
00:52:18as he did in the first phase, but below us,
00:52:20Martin, Ferrari getting ready with
00:52:22another new set of tyres, so we wait
00:52:24to see whether that's... seems a bit early
00:52:26for it to be on schedule. Rubens
00:52:28Barrichello made the first stop in the very early
00:52:30lap 20. He's about 21 or 22, I think it
00:52:32was. And it's only
00:52:3414 laps ago, in fact, he made his stop.
00:52:36Is he coming in this time by?
00:52:38Well, they may have elected to do that, because they think
00:52:40that if they get him in,
00:52:42get him some clear air, they will have calculated
00:52:44where he will rejoin the racetrack.
00:52:46Is there any traffic in that zone?
00:52:48Is that the way to spring
00:52:50board past Ralph Schumacher?
00:52:52Remember, last time they gave him fresh tyres,
00:52:54he went out and did a 1.16.1,
00:52:56a new lap record, and that
00:52:58could well get him up into second place.
00:53:00So, I think smart thinking there by the
00:53:02Ferrari team. Very interesting tactics.
00:53:04Not seen anything like that for a long, long time.
00:53:06We're waiting to see where exactly Rubens
00:53:08Barrichello is going to rejoin. But of course, they're taking
00:53:10advantage of this big gap there is
00:53:12in performance between the top three teams
00:53:14and everybody else, Martin.
00:53:16They're able to just use that big void, that vacuum,
00:53:18move the cars around and slot them in
00:53:20with no risk of being passed by the BARs
00:53:22and the salvos of this world.
00:53:24Now we can see also why they've done it.
00:53:26Look, they've got him back out
00:53:28in front of Coulthard. Remember,
00:53:30Coulthard had to make a second stop
00:53:32before his stop-and-go penalty,
00:53:34speeding in the pit lane. I don't really understand
00:53:36how that can happen. There's a button on the
00:53:38steering wheel and it's controlled electronically.
00:53:40But Ferrari working out
00:53:42they can keep their man ahead of Coulthard,
00:53:44maybe find him some clear air.
00:53:46With the blue flag situation these days,
00:53:48that Prost will have to get out of the way
00:53:50quickly, and that's kept him in front of Coulthard
00:53:52and could well springboard him
00:53:54up into second place. Of course, the interesting
00:53:56thing is Coulthard's still got a second stop to make
00:53:58and we wonder whether Rubens Barrichello
00:54:00has enough fuel now to go through to the finish
00:54:02because he's been refueled twice
00:54:04in the last 16 laps. Both times
00:54:06he's taken on around 60 or 70 kilos.
00:54:08So depending on how much he had
00:54:10in the car at the start, Rubens Barrichello
00:54:12will either be able to go to the finish or maybe
00:54:14maybe have a splash and dash
00:54:16just before the end. But exactly as you say,
00:54:18Martin, he's now ahead of David Coulthard.
00:54:20This is one for the aficionados
00:54:22who like their race strategy. This is going to be studied
00:54:24for quite a few years to come, I think,
00:54:26this Grand Prix because it's all happening
00:54:28in the minds of Ross Brawn,
00:54:30Sam Michael and the other technical directors
00:54:32who try and work out the strategies,
00:54:34trying to place their car in exactly
00:54:36the right position, working against
00:54:38the way the drivers go, the tyres degrade
00:54:40and the fuel load lightens.
00:54:42It's pure maths. It's very difficult
00:54:44and only very, very few people
00:54:46are any good at it. A nose change here
00:54:48looks like down in the Minardi garage
00:54:50and that is Alonso
00:54:52from 17th place, Martin.
00:54:54That was a very quick nose change.
00:54:56It normally takes 17-18 seconds
00:54:58but ironically they had the nose on
00:55:00before they finished refueling. That was impressive.
00:55:02That's very impressive. Ron Dennis
00:55:04there watching on. His man,
00:55:06David Coulthard, of course, after that stop-and-go
00:55:08penalty, now down in 5th place.
00:55:10Just 34 laps remaining,
00:55:12just over half distance in this French Grand Prix
00:55:14and a very interesting
00:55:16tactical game going on here
00:55:18in France.
00:55:20They obviously practice those nose changes quite regularly
00:55:22but I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be.
00:55:24In a big accident where you
00:55:26side-swipe the nose of the car,
00:55:28you want that to stay on and
00:55:30that is only hanging on by obviously a couple
00:55:32of bolts. Clearly it passes the crash test
00:55:34which I believe are only in the straight-ahead
00:55:36position. They have these gigantic
00:55:38Allen keys that they bring in from the side
00:55:40to just lock on the nose. But as you say, Martin, normally
00:55:42four main retaining bolts,
00:55:44two at the top, two at the bottom,
00:55:46holding the nose onto the main
00:55:48monocoque of the chassis
00:55:50and in that case they managed to get them off
00:55:52extremely quickly as the Minardi moves
00:55:54well out of the way. That's Tasso Marquez
00:55:56getting out of the way in 18th place
00:55:58of the race leader. The second time he's
00:56:00been lapped this afternoon. Michael Schumacher
00:56:02has lapped everybody still up to Olivier Panis
00:56:04in 11th place.
00:56:06There's a huge race of reputations
00:56:08going on here this afternoon but it's down
00:56:10in 13th and 14th place
00:56:12at the moment. Fisichella now is slightly ahead
00:56:14of Button. Button on his back
00:56:16foot this year with a difficult car,
00:56:18a car that is slow and
00:56:20really does as we've said many times
00:56:22need to show that he's as good as
00:56:24if not better than Fisichella
00:56:26and they're at it hammer and tongs really.
00:56:28It's like a little private war going
00:56:30out there because they're really
00:56:32effectively not part of this Grand Prix, James
00:56:34and this was the very weekend
00:56:36where they were supposed to be bringing out
00:56:38coming out with all guns
00:56:40firing of course. Yes, we heard talk of
00:56:42improvements to the engine of the Renault. We heard
00:56:44talk of aerodynamic improvements as
00:56:46well. Mike Gascoigne,
00:56:48team technical director, has been working feverishly
00:56:50to try and improve the Benetton car
00:56:52and as you say, Martin, no real
00:56:54gains but we're looking at Ralf Schumacher
00:56:56now. What is he?
00:56:58Well over 14, 14
00:57:00and a half seconds behind his brother Michael
00:57:02and this second set of tyres not
00:57:04working for Ralf Schumacher. Yes, just what I was
00:57:06going to say, James. It's really not panning out, is it
00:57:08in this stage of the race
00:57:10because look, Montoya then, just
00:57:12over a second adrift on the harder
00:57:14tyres and Ralf not showing
00:57:16anything like the pace he did earlier on. He's back
00:57:18in the one minute 17s and
00:57:20clearly not happy with the balance
00:57:22of that car and it's all about balance
00:57:24this racetrack. It's a very technical
00:57:26track. You need the car to go
00:57:28where it needs to go. And of course the man who'll
00:57:30be really kicking himself about this is David
00:57:32Coulthard. It was just one second
00:57:34adrift of Ralf Schumacher when he had that stop-and-go
00:57:36issue. He would now almost certainly be monstering
00:57:38him, passing him and up into
00:57:40well, second place really and looking at
00:57:42trying to catch on to the back of Michael
00:57:44Schumacher. Meanwhile, it's Juan Montoya
00:57:46who is now climbing onto the back of
00:57:48Ralf Schumacher. They've got a back marker in front
00:57:50of them and I think we're going to have some
00:57:52internal Williams squabbling coming
00:57:54fairly shortly. And unless
00:57:56Barrichello does have to have a splash and dash later
00:57:58on, it is working out very nicely
00:58:00for him. Quietly back there in fourth
00:58:02place, lapping about a
00:58:04second a lap faster than the Williams
00:58:06consistently and that
00:58:08as we said, is going to springboard him
00:58:10up into second place. He's currently lapping
00:58:12same speed as the race leader and teammate
00:58:14Michael Schumacher and Ralf
00:58:16then will easily clear that back marker
00:58:18under braking and he doesn't do so
00:58:20does he look? He's not happy. That's
00:58:22Bertie once again
00:58:24sort of making a big job of getting out of the way
00:58:26but Ralf did not look
00:58:28confident into that hairpin.
00:58:30The situation constantly changing
00:58:32ever evolving throughout this Grand Prix
00:58:34we've got another 31
00:58:36laps to go and a lot of changes no doubt
00:58:38to happen. Ralf Schumacher seems pretty ginger
00:58:40under braking as you say Martin. Juan
00:58:42Montoya though right behind him. These two
00:58:44BMW Williams drivers
00:58:46of course using two different types of
00:58:48Michelin tyres. That strategy was
00:58:50decided before qualifying yesterday
00:58:52as we watched Kimi Räikkönen coming in
00:58:54to make his pit stop on
00:58:56lap 41. Having a nice
00:58:58wipe of the visor.
00:59:00Fuel going in.
00:59:02Yep, pretty much going on target for a
00:59:04two-stop. A bit early for his second stop but there's
00:59:06the man we've got our eyes on at the
00:59:08moment. Juan Montoya
00:59:10and well he said yesterday after qualifying
00:59:12he felt he was on a better tyre but Ralf
00:59:14had gone for qualifying position
00:59:16rather than race position
00:59:18and he deliberately sacrificed
00:59:206 tenths of a second. He knew he could have had in
00:59:22qualifying but he wanted a better
00:59:24race tyre and there's some serious thinking going
00:59:26on there on the Williams pit wall.
00:59:28What they don't want of course Martin is any fun
00:59:30and games between these two. Either of them putting each other out.
00:59:32They want points. Williams are here to score
00:59:34as many points as they possibly can this weekend.
00:59:36Yes they're thinking right
00:59:38if we want to win this race we want to minimise
00:59:40the damage
00:59:42of Michael Schumacher up front
00:59:44they've got to get I think
00:59:46Montoya past Ralf Schumacher somehow.
00:59:48Ralf is clearly
00:59:50not hooked up for whatever
00:59:52reason and their best bet I think is to get
00:59:54Montoya past him. Of course we'll turn our
00:59:56minds back to Jordan of course
00:59:58the Belgian Grand Prix a few years ago in the rain.
01:00:00Damon Hill leading Ralf Schumacher.
01:00:02Sorry Ralf Schumacher leading Damon Hill.
01:00:04No, Damon Hill leading Ralf Schumacher and told
01:00:06not to overtake him even though Damon was
01:00:08faster. That's, Ralf was faster.
01:00:10That's the situation. Ralf Schumacher took it very
01:00:12badly indeed on that occasion.
01:00:14Wasn't at all happy. What's his reaction
01:00:16going to be on London now?
01:00:18If Williams get on the radio and say
01:00:20listen Ralf we know you qualified on
01:00:22pole on your birthday but
01:00:24one's faster.
01:00:26Well Montoya's sort of got in that
01:00:28dirty air zone and not getting much further now.
01:00:30Meanwhile Michael Schumacher's over
01:00:3217 seconds ahead so
01:00:34it's just not working out at the
01:00:36moment. Williams do not appear
01:00:38to have an answer to Michael Schumacher
01:00:40pace. The same pace he showed in
01:00:42the warm up this morning. Hakanen as
01:00:44it happens and Michael Schumacher looking
01:00:46blisteringly fast this morning and
01:00:48Michael certainly confirming that this afternoon
01:00:50and Barrichello backing that up
01:00:52well too. 30 laps to go in
01:00:54the French Grand Prix then. Still only three
01:00:56retirements amazingly enough. Micah Hakanen
01:00:58whose car failed on
01:01:00the parade lap. He never even got as far
01:01:02as the start line. Jacques Villeneuve
01:01:04who had some kind of electrical failure
01:01:06and pulled off after 12 laps
01:01:08and Enrique Bernaldi who pulled off
01:01:1023 laps. And here we go. Irvine
01:01:12makes the move finally on
01:01:14Frentzen and I believe Frentzen should be
01:01:16penalised for that. Frentzen should let
01:01:18him go otherwise he will get penalised
01:01:20because he saved a position
01:01:22by taking a shortcut.
01:01:24You won't get penalised if you don't
01:01:26take advantage but by not losing
01:01:28place you're taking advantage.
01:01:30And we saw Eddie Irvine gesturing there to the pit wall
01:01:32you could see he was very unhappy. He
01:01:34believes also that Heinz-Arnold Frentzen should
01:01:36move out of the way. Meanwhile Martin
01:01:38let's take a look at this first. Yeah Irvine then
01:01:40getting position into the chicane. Frentzen
01:01:42nowhere to go. He just elected
01:01:44to scream across the
01:01:46no man's land there and that
01:01:48is cheating. That is not
01:01:50within the regulations. I'll be amazed
01:01:52if he doesn't get some kind of penalty
01:01:54a stop and go penalty for that. What would
01:01:56be smart there and yes he has
01:01:58let him through look. Just as I say
01:02:00what would be smart is to let him through
01:02:02if he wants to avoid that penalty.
01:02:04Yes this is the battle of course for 8th place
01:02:06between Heinz-Arnold Frentzen and Eddie Irvine. Here it is
01:02:08from earlier on. Yeah and Frentzen look
01:02:10lifted off the throttle, yielded, did not
01:02:12make a fight of that at all and
01:02:14I would suspect the team told him to do that.
01:02:16Yeah smart thinking. Yes he waves
01:02:18you can see clear acknowledgement of his
01:02:20mistake. It's cost him a place. It's cost him
01:02:228th place in fact. Meanwhile the
01:02:24Williams pit crew are out
01:02:26in the pit lane. We
01:02:28understand it might well be for Ralf
01:02:30Schumacher currently
01:02:32in on 2nd
01:02:34place and this is the 44th lap.
01:02:36So Ralf pretty much bang on target here
01:02:38for a two stopper. We saw him
01:02:40earlier on coming in on lap
01:02:4225. This is going to drop him
01:02:44down probably to about
01:02:465th place
01:02:48I would imagine. 4th or 5th place
01:02:50and Juan Montoya is the one who is going to benefit from it.
01:02:52He's going to move up into 2nd place
01:02:54and of course we're still not quite sure how much fuel Montoya's got
01:02:56on board. Well the big story then that
01:02:58we can look for at the moment is will
01:03:00Barrichello and Coulthard
01:03:02end up in front of those two
01:03:04Williams and it's Montoya that goes
01:03:06through and it is Ralf who comes
01:03:08into the pit lane. Kevin Pifer.
01:03:10Yes and the other big story is it going
01:03:12to be Ralf being told to defer to
01:03:14Montoya or are they going to let them just go
01:03:16out and do their own thing. Patrick Head and Sir
01:03:18Frank Williams were locked in conversation
01:03:20just moments ago before those pit stoppers.
01:03:22Ralf makes a quick exit but it's going to be
01:03:24interesting because fairly shortly
01:03:26we should know who's going to come out on top
01:03:28in the battle here at Williams.
01:03:30I think the damage is already done Kevin because
01:03:32Michael Schumacher 20 seconds
01:03:34in the lead last time around
01:03:36and we're expecting a Ferrari
01:03:38in this time too and it must be for
01:03:40Michael Schumacher. We saw Barrichello
01:03:42pitting a few laps ago
01:03:44so Michael Schumacher then
01:03:46in this time around we believe.
01:03:48Yes and he's only 19.9 seconds
01:03:50ahead of Montoya and that's not going to be enough
01:03:52for him to rejoin in front of the Colombian.
01:03:54So Montoya will again
01:03:56lead the race I believe after this pit stop.
01:03:58Michael Schumacher dives in. He needs to
01:04:00make this as quick as he possibly can.
01:04:02No pit lane speeding of course for him.
01:04:04They'll have warned him of what happened to
01:04:06Coulthard. No one wants to make that same mistake
01:04:08as David Coulthard made. New tyres
01:04:10going on. Brand new tyres.
01:04:12So far so good.
01:04:14And this is where it pays off for Michael
01:04:16Schumacher when he does not do that extra run
01:04:18in qualifying. He saves new tyres
01:04:20from the Friday morning
01:04:22for the Saturday morning as the regulations
01:04:24now work out through to
01:04:26it wasn't a particularly good stop James was it?
01:04:28Montoya I believe will
01:04:30take the lead again and he does so.
01:04:32Montoya then flashes through
01:04:34the foreground but he's got to stop again.
01:04:36Michael Schumacher has
01:04:38not got to stop again.
01:04:40Indeed he has. We thought Montoya might be
01:04:42trying a one stopper but as it turned out
01:04:44he stopped very late of course
01:04:46but he did put a normal amount of fuel into the car.
01:04:48So it's all to play for here
01:04:50at Manukau.
01:04:52Montoya
01:04:54leading. Michael Schumacher
01:04:56in second place. Rubens Barrichello
01:04:58holding on in third place.
01:05:00David Coulthard after that stop and go penalty
01:05:02is fourth. Ralph Schumacher
01:05:04fifth. Jelena Trulli still sixth
01:05:06where he's been pretty much throughout the entire
01:05:08afternoon and it's been a while
01:05:10now. Four races since Jordan have scored
01:05:12any points and they'll be
01:05:14very happy if Jelena Trulli can come in
01:05:16in sixth place. Eddie Irvine going fantastically well
01:05:18today in seventh place. Made his
01:05:20way up from twelfth. A real tigerish
01:05:22day for the Jaguar driver. A little lockup
01:05:24there though Martin from Montoya.
01:05:26Yeah it's alright into that corner. Often
01:05:28your front right is doing virtually nothing
01:05:30in there so you might as well be
01:05:32stationary for a split second or two.
01:05:34It's not going to do you any harm. It's when the
01:05:36back starts sliding in there. So Montoya
01:05:38then over the line in a 1.16.5
01:05:40that's a good lap time
01:05:42at this stage of the Grand Prix
01:05:44and he's 3.66
01:05:46seconds ahead and we're sure though
01:05:48that he's got to stop again. Can Michael reel
01:05:50him in in these next
01:05:52few laps before Montoya stops?
01:05:54But as you said Jarno Trulli
01:05:56sixth place man. He's the next target
01:05:58of the flying Eddie Irvine
01:06:00who's 16 seconds down the road.
01:06:02So Irvine then with a sniff
01:06:04of a World Championship point yet again
01:06:06for the Jaguar team. Yes already had
01:06:08him of course in the Monaco Grand Prix
01:06:10Eddie Irvine but
01:06:12looking for some more points here this
01:06:14afternoon. So
01:06:16Montoya going to make a stop
01:06:18in the not too distant future. He's
01:06:20leading by 3.6 seconds from
01:06:22Michael Schumacher and it's Barrichello
01:06:24third, Coulthard fourth,
01:06:26Ralf Schumacher fifth,
01:06:28Jarno Trulli still sixth
01:06:30and the final parts of this race
01:06:32as we work on lap 47 out of 71
01:06:34still to look forward to.
01:06:38So
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01:47:55ferrari
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01:48:52well some rather sour-faced critics back in italy criticizing michael schumacher whenever he conducts
01:48:57his mechanics who always love vociferously to sing the italian national anthem i think it's
01:49:02a good idea for him to do it but uh some people back in italy find it patronizing so he's stopped
01:49:08but there he is collecting the trophy he's got one or two of those in the cabinet back
01:49:14in switzerland where he now lives and once again he finds himself on the podium with his brother ralph
01:49:20and there is the winning constructor trophy being presented to rubens barrichello's race
01:49:26engineer curiously enough he finds himself up on the podium collecting this one yes that's
01:49:30michael's 92nd trophy for being on the podium in grand prix racing ralph then taking second place
01:49:37today i think he'd be moderately disappointed actually james yes although relieved of course
01:49:43of what happened to cool thought because otherwise he would have been behind him so
01:49:46six more solid points for ralph schumacher and more solid points from rubens be careful rubens
01:49:51it's made of glass don't drop it so martina a very good afternoon's work by ferrari no doubt
01:49:58about it james and uh we're heading off to silverson of course can schumacher do it again
01:50:03can't stop him well 50 up for michael schumacher he's taken a big step this afternoon towards
01:50:09his fourth world title let the champagne flow in the home of champagne here in france
01:50:16thanks very much indeed james our thanks to martin as well we're going to hear from
01:50:19michael schumacher schumacher brothers and rubens barrichello we hope to have a word
01:50:24with david coulthard as well tony jardin will pinpoint the key points of the french grand
01:50:30prix you want a frightening thought ross braun telling us before the race the best
01:50:34of michael schumacher is still to come
01:50:54so

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