Formula One: Villeneuve just misses out on points in Monaco
5 June 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 7 Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo Race Report VILLENEUVE JUST MISSES OUT ON POINTS IN MONACO Sunday 4 June 2000 BAR Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve delivered a characteristically strong performance this afternoon, climbing through the field from the ninth row of the grid to finish the 58th Monaco Grand Prix in seventh place. Ricardo Zonta also drove a promising race, but an accident on lap 49 ended his participation in motor racing's Blue Riband event. As in past years, the particular demands of the Monte Carlo street circuit accounted for many cars and by the end of the 78-lap race, only nine cars were still running, of which just five were on the lead lap. An aborted start, a first lap red flag and a six-car incident had set the tone before the race proper had even got underway. Such are the requirements of Monaco that instead of the regular solitary spare car, BAR Honda had brought a spare for each driver this weekend. The forward-planning proved invaluable as the opening lap incident forced both Villeneuve and Zonta to switch chassis and the team did an excellent job to ensure that both drivers were able to resume their grid positions for the restart. Loaded with full fuel tanks, BAR Honda's strategy was to run as long as possible before stopping, in the hope of making up places on the track. All went according to plan and Villeneuve was running in a comfortable eighth when he made his one stop on lap 54. Although a further retirement up the field raised hopes of a points finish, it was not to be and Jacques had to be content with seventh place. Zonta had also driven well, pushing his team mate all the way for the opening 46 laps before pitting for fuel and tyres. Rejoining the action with new rubber, Zonta tried to make up time and recorded his fastest lap of the race on his 48th tour. The next lap, however, the Brazilian carried too much speed into St. Devote and became one of the day's six victims of the opening corner. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 7th "At the start of the race anything could have happened; we could have finished 5th or 15th. In the end, to make it up to seventh and then miss out on points is really frustrating. We loaded the car up with fuel and could have run even longer if we'd had to. It was very hot and physical out there, so I just waited for the others to fall off." Ricardo Zonta Position: DNF - Lap 49 "After my pit stop I was pushing hard when I was forced to take a different line through St Devote and the car hit a bump so hard that I lost control and hit the barrier. Despite the lack of a result, this was a good race for me because I learned a lot during the weekend. If we could start over again, I know I could improve the set-up earlier and have a better result." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "Jacques drove a very good race today with a difficult car. He is a fine driver, but he is also very strong mentally and was patient in the early part of the race. It was a shame that we could not finish in the points after his efforts, but we are pleased that there were no reliability problems today. Ricardo also drove a good race and I am sure he will learn from his error." Craig Pollock - Managing Director, British American Racing "Jacques did a fantastic job and managed his equipment perfectly. To finish seventh from seventeenth is a terrific achievement, but to do it here is tremendous. Ricardo was also doing a good job on his first visit to Monaco until he was caught out by the bumps and crashed. I'm very happy with the reliability of the chassis and the lads carried out wonderful pit stops. It was a great team effort." Jordan Mugen Honda's Jarno Trulli started the race from his first ever front row grid position and the young Italian showed great ability to keep second place ahead of David Coulthard's McLaren for the first half of the race. Unfortunately a gearbox problem ended his day on lap 36 and his disappointment was made all the greater after Michael Schumacher's retirement, which would have handed Trulli the victory. Heinz-Harald Frentzen would have raised spirits in the Jordan Mugen Honda team by claiming second place behind Coulthard, but a mistake at St Devote left his EJ10 in the barriers and his race was over. The Formula One teams cross the Atlantic ocean in a fortnight for another street race, this time the Canadian Grand Prix around Montreal, Sunday 18 June. BAR Honda is back on duty this week with a three-day test at Monza, Italy (6-8 June). Championship Standings after 7 of 17 rounds DRIVERS P - Driver - Nat. - Pts 1 - SCHUMACHER Michael - GER - 46 2 - COULTHARD David - GBR - 34 3 - HAKKINEN Mika - FIN - 29 4 - BARRICHELLO Rubens - BRZ - 22 5 - FISICHELLA Giancarlo - ITA - 14 6 - SCHUMACHER Ralf - GER - 12 7 - VILLENEUVE Jacques - CAN - 5 = - FRENTZEN H-Harald - GER - 5 CONSTRUCTORS P - Constructor - Points 1 - FERRARI - 68 2 - McLAREN-MERCEDES - 63 3 - WILLIAMS-BMW - 15 4 - BENETTON PLAYLIFE - 14 5 - JORDAN MUGEN-HONDA - 9 6 - BAR HONDA - 6 7 - SAUBER - 3 = - JAGUAR - 3 9 - ARROWS - 1