Qualifying at the European Grand Prix was interesting to the seasoned
Formula One fan on several fronts. First, the dominance at Williams is
now so impressive that Damon Hill can whip Jacques Villenueve by 0.78
seconds, but the team still started the grid from the number one and two
positions. Second, David Coulthard finally got the best of Mika Hakkinen
during the qualifying session (excuses are easy to find for the Finnish
driver, but we do not deal in excuses here). Third, Heinz-Harald
Frentzen was nearly defeated by Johnny Herbert during the qualifying; in
the last two years, no driver has come anywhere as close to Frentzen as
Herbert did this past week. Fourth, Michael Schumacher appears to have
regained control at Ferrari after allowing Irvine to win the Ferrari
qualifying battle in opening race in Australia.Four other interesting stories of dominance are developing on the grid during these exciting Saturday show-downs. Bennetton brass must be wondering about the performances of Gerhard Berger. The European Grand Prix marked the fourth straight race for Jean Alesi to beat Berger, and the gap has been increasing every race. Similarly, Rubens Barrichello continues his dominance of Martin Brundle in the Jordan stable. Pedro Diniz is being completely out-classed by Olivier Panis at Ligier, and Jos (according to some, "The Boss") Verstappen is killing Ricardo Rosset at ever increasing rates in the Footwork equipment.
Three other teams are on the Formula One circuit, and each is producing some interesting stories. Mika Salo won this week's qualifying battle over Ukyo Katayama in the Tyrrell camp, and Salo is clearly emerging as the hot driver in that match-up. Minardi gives us Pedro Lamy against someone else every race. Despite Lamy's regular ride, he is a questionable 1-3 against Glancario Fisichella and Tarso Marques, including a surprising qualifying loss this week.
Finally, there are the struggling participants in the Forti garages. Obviously, beating the 107 percent target has been a focus at Forti, but another interesting story is developing here. During 1995, Andrea Montermini was a terrific qualifier, but surprisingly, the European Grand Prix was the first time he could get past Luca Badoer on Saturday. Before his personal celebration could begin, he was going home thanks to the 107 percent rule.
The European Grand Prix turned out to be on of the best races in years--Saturday was terrific as well.