Kimi Raikkonen snatched pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix away from local hero Fernando Alonso right at the very end of qualifying this afternoon at Circuit de Catalunya. As ever, the sharp end of the grid came down to a final run on the softer option tyre with the provisional pole position moving from one driver to another until Raikkonen flashed across the line in his Ferrari.
Raikkonen starts the 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix from the pole but all eyes tomorrow afternoon in Spain will be on Fernando Alonso who did a fantastic job to qualify his Renault on the front row of the grid alongside the championship leader. The much-modified R28 has looked fast all weekend long, but fuel levels aside, it is doubtful that even Renault expected a front row start.
Felipe Massa, last year’s winner, set the pace in the second round of qualifying but come the final shootout session had to be content with third position ahead of Robert Kubica who continues to out-shine BMW Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld this weekend.
Over at McLaren Mercedes, the team’s difficult weekend continued with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen qualifying fifth and sixth respectively but with just three tenths in it for Hamilton, race day could still bring possibilities.
Mark Webber starts a solid seventh in his Red Bull Renault while team-mate David Coulthard gambled that he could use just the harder Bridgestone Potenza at the start of qualifying and found himself eliminated early on. Coulthard therefore starts a disappointed 17th in the second RB4.
Jarno Trulli continues to lead the way at Toyota as he lines up eighth, six positions ahead of Timo Glock in the second TF108. Nick Heidfeld and Nelson Piquet round out the top ten for BMW Sauber and Renault.
Rubens Barrichello was unable to make the top ten in his Honda, but got mighty close. The Brazilian veteran lines up 11th ahead of Kazuki Nakajima who had by far his most competitive qualifying showing so far with Williams Toyota. Jenson Button starts 13th in the second Honda ahead of Glock and Nico Rosberg who did not shine in the second FW30.
Sebastien Bourdais is proving that he is worthy of a seat in Formula One as he continues to improve in the Toro Rosso Ferrari. The Champ Car star made it with ease into the second round of qualifying but a small error on his final run left him in 16th position. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel, highly rated by many, is having a tough run at the moment and starts 18th behind Coulthard.
Force India will have to wait a few more weeks before they can try and make it into the second round of qualifying – their long-stated aim with the VJM01. Giancarlo Fisichella starts 19th ahead of team-mate Adrian Sutil. At the back, Anthony Davidson got the better of Super Aguri team-mate Takuma Sato and was less than a tenth shy of Sutil after a good run.
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
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