MONACO, 21 May 2004 — Michael Schumacher showed his intentions of claiming a sixth Monaco Grand Prix victory with his sixth win of the season this weekend when he finished fastest in practice here yesterday.
The German world champion, who is unbeaten in his Ferrari this year, was in scintillating form around the narrow streets as he set a fastest lap of 1min 14.741sec to lead the field in two incident-packed sessions.
His time put him 0.4sec clear of BAR-Honda’s British test driver Anthony Davidson with teammate Rubens Barrichello claiming the third fastest time but finishing more than half a second behind.
“It was an entertaining and interesting session as we have come to expect in Monaco,” said Schumacher, who will equal Ayrton Senna’s record of six wins in the Principality if he is successful on Sunday.
Jaguar suffered a terrible start to the weekend when all three of their drivers were prevented from completing the full day’s running with Mark Webber’s car catching fire midway through the first session.
Schumacher has tipped BAR and Renault to be his closest contenders this season and they did not disappoint as Briton Jenson Button and Japan’s Takuma Sato finished sixth and seventh for BAR.
Button said: “I think we should feel very happy with what we have achieved today and we’re certainly looking good for a strong weekend. Renault pair Jarno Trulli, of Italy, and Fernando Alonso, of Spain, also proved their car works well around the tight and twisty circuit by setting fourth and ninth fastest laps respectively. McLaren, who had been hoping the unique layout of the circuit could give them a chance to improve on the disappointing form they have shown so far this season, enjoyed a mixed showing.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who had been tipped to fight for the title but has so far scored only one point, finished fifth fastest but Scot David Coulthard, who won here in 2002 and started from pole in 2001, could only claim 11th place. Williams pair Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher also suffered mixed fortunes as they finished 10th and 12th fastest respectively, with the latter stopping out on the circuit in the morning session.
He will lose 10 grid places tomorrow after changing his engine following the incident.
Webber meanwhile was on his eighth lap of the day when he was forced to stop on the straight before the Tabac corner when flames licked up over the engine cover and engulfed the back end of the car as he climbed out.
His Jaguar was lifted off the circuit by a crane and marshals covered the oil trail with cement dust before the session was restarted after seven minutes and Webber failed to take part in the second session.
