Why unloved Lotus 76 may be Colin Chapman's most significant car
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
It’s all change from last year when the Ferraris struggled to match the pace of the McLarens, as Massa took pole with his team-mate alongside him.
It looked like the front row would have been made up of the Kimster and Hamilton, however, a blisteringly quick lap by Massa, late on in Q3, moved everyone down a place.
Coulthard escaped a huge crash in Q2 on the way out of the tunnel, but is still planning start the race tomorrow from 10th on the grid.
As for tomorrow; Monaco is a notoriously hard circuit on which to overtake so if the Ferrari’s race pace is as quick as their qualifying, Lewis and Heikki certainly have their work cut out for them. However, if the forecast of rain materializes, who knows what will happen… The first race without traction control in the wet, through the street of the Principality isn’t something I want to miss.
Qualifying
Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Massa | Ferrari | 1:15.190 | 1:15.110 | 1:15.787 |
2. | Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:15.717 | 1:15.404 | 1:15.815 |
3. | Hamilton | McLaren | 1:15.582 | 1:15.322 | 1:15.839 |
4. | Kovalainen | McLaren | 1:15.295 | 1:15.389 | 1:16.165 |
5. | Kubica | BMW | 1:15.977 | 1:15.483 | 1:16.171 |
6. | Rosberg | Williams | 1:15.935 | 1:15.287 | 1:16.548 |
7. | Alonso | Renault | 1:16.646 | 1:15.827 | 1:16.852 |
8. | Trulli | Toyota | 1:16.306 | 1:15.598 | 1:17.203 |
9. | Webber | Red Bull | 1:16.074 | 1:15.745 | 1:17.343 |
10. | Coulthard | Red Bull | 1:16.086 | 1:15.839 | No time |
11. | Glock | Toyota | 1:16.285 | 1:15.907 | |
12. | Button | Honda | 1:16.259 | 1:16.101 | |
13. | Heidfeld | BMW | 1:16.650 | 1:16.455 | |
14. | Nakajima | Williams | 1:16.756 | 1:16.479 | |
15. | Barrichello | Honda | 1:16.208 | 1:16.537 | |
16. | Bourdais | STR | 1:16.806 | No time | |
17. | Piquet | Renault | 1:16.933 | ||
18. | Vettel | STR | 1:16.955 | ||
19. | Sutil | F India | 1:17.225 | ||
20. | Fisichella | F India | 1:17.823 | ||
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
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