Alonso battles to first pole this season
Once more it turned out to be an exciting qualifying session. After some hickups in the timings system, Q3 proved a spectacle in which Alonso managed to find his first pole position of the season. Michael Schumacher was the biggest threat to the Spaniard as he will start from second on the grid tomorrow. Massa is third with Barrichello 4th and for the first time better than Button.
The first qualifying period kicked off with Ralf Schumacher coming out of the pitlane. He was joined by both Williams cars who surprisingly came back into the pitlane after just one lap. The session was underway with Alonso on top when with 4 minutes to go a red flag was indicated by the track systems. Few seconds later however, "NO RED FLAG" was displayed to indicate there was apparently a technical error. As a result however, Jacques Villeneuve's time was not recorded and was noted as knocked out at the end of the session.
What followed was a 15 minute break in order for the FIA to restore the timings. Villeneuve finally was awarded a 7th time and therefore allowed to compete in Q2. The drivers knocked out at the first stage are Klien, Albers, Speed, Monteiro, Sato and Montagny. The latter spinned in his quick lap and was therefore unable to beat his teammate Sato.
When Q2 got underway, both BMW Sauber cars went out to prevent the uncertainty of Villeneuve in the first session. Sauber however have been doing a fast lap in the beginning and one at the end of Q2 since Malaysia. Jacques set the fastest lap at a time when Ralf Schumacher was spinning his car in a run-off zone.
Possibly aware of the problems in qualifying at San Marino, Fisico was also quickly on track but was unable to improve on Villeneuve. Raikkonen was the first to better Jacques in a time of 1:30.203. Michael Schumacher beat that time again and did so on old tyres which he used in Q1 and before in the weekend. With three minutes to go, the well peforming Williams cars and both Honda's have pushd Villeneuve back into 10th place. Fisichella meanwhile is again struggling with traffic and is still not qualified for Q3 with only 1 minute o go in 2. At the end of session 2, Ralf, Rosberg, Fisichella (again), Coulthard, Heidfeld and Liuzzi are knocked out. Last lap attemps from Webber, Villeneuve and Button saved their spot in Q3.
Giancarlo Fisichella went to see Villeneuve in the pitbox just after both men came in after Q2. The Roman was visibly angry by Villeneuve's actions on track. Jacques was in his car at the time he got visited by Fisico and was therefore a bit unable to respond to the accusations. The Canadian on the other hand was also fighting for his place in Q3 at that time and at first sight did not appear to be guilty of not letting Fisico pass by.
As Fisico went back to his Renault friends, Q got underway with Schumacher in front, ahead of Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen. Contrary to some expectations, the Ferraris are back in front with Schumacher settings continuous fast laps during S3. After their first attemps on new tyres, Alonso is first with only 0.022s advantage over Michael. Fernando later even improved 6 tenths on his time and left Schumacher behind him, especially making the difference in sector 2.
The timings are as follows:
1 F. Alonso Renault 1:29.819
2 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.028
3 F. Massa Ferrari 1:30.407
4 R. Barrichello Honda 1:30.754
5 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:30.933
6 J. Button Honda 1:30.940
7 J. Trulli Toyota 1:31.419
8 J. Villeneuve BMW 1:31.542
9 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:31.880
10 M. Webber Williams 1:33.405
11 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:30.944
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:31.194
13 G. Fisichella Renault 1:31.197
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:31.227
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:31.422
16 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:31.728
17 C. Klien Red Bull 1:32.901
18 C. Albers Midland F1 1:32.936
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:32.992
20 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:33.658
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:35.239
22 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:46.505
