Massa
spoils Alonso's Spanish party
Qualifying 1
Lewis Hamilton got his bid for a first career pole position off to
the perfect start by topping the first knock-out qualifying session
at the Circuit de Catalunya.
But Ferrari's Felipe Massa got within a quarter of a second despite
a ragged moment under braking on his fastest lap suggesting the
Maranello squad is ready to do battle with McLaren this
afternoon.
Home hero Fernando Alonso was third fastest ahead of Nick Heidfeld
(BMW Sauber) and Heikki Kovalainen (Renault).
Both Super Aguris comfortably made it through to Q2 but there were
several surprises among those who missed the cut.
These included Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and Williams' Alex Wurz, as
well as Red Bull's Mark Webber.
The Australian's RB3 was struck by a suspected hydraulic problem,
while Scott Speed (who had shown well hitherto this weekend) was
sidelined by transmission gremlins.
Drivers knocked out: Ralf Schumacher, Alex Wurz, Mark Webber, Adrian
Sutil, Christijan Albers, Scott Speed
Qualifying 2
Ferrari brought a halt to McLaren's dominance of the Spanish Grand
Prix weekend in second qualifying, as Felipe Massa set the pace and
team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished third fastest.
Delivering on the potential he had shown in Q1, Massa edged out
McLaren pacesetter Lewis Hamilton by just over 0.1s.
Fernando Alonso was shuffled back to fourth place, precisely 0.2s
shy of Massa's time.
Next up were the BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica,
ahead of Red Bull's David Coulthard who made it through to the
top-10 shoot-out for the first time this season.
Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and the two Renaults were the others to make
the cut, while Nico Rosberg (Williams) missed out by 0.3s.
Super Aguri had a nightmare session, as Takuma Sato ground to a
halt with a technical problem and Anthony Davidson had a pair of
off-course excursions.
Drivers knocked out: Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello, Takuma Sato, Jenson
Button, Anthony Davidson, Vitantonio Liuzzi
Qualifying 3 (Pole Shootout)
Felipe Massa shattered the dreams of the huge Spanish crowd at
Barcelona on Saturday by denying Fernando Alonso pole position for
his home grand prix.
The Brazilian produced a superb final lap to beat Alonso's
benchmark time by an infinitesimal three-hundredths of a second and
claim a remarkable third straight pole.
Q3 built up to a thrilling climax as the four big hitters from
Ferrari and McLaren went head-to-head.
Alonso had been fastest during the fuel-burning phase and he lived
up to that with his first hot lap, eliciting a raucous cheer from
the grandstands as he clocked a 1m21.661s.
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton was first out for his final run but was
unable to match Alonso's benchmark despite a tidy and committed
lap.
That and Lewis' comments afterwards suggested that Alonso was
carrying less fuel and was on an aggressive strategy in a bid to
snatch pole.
The ploy looked like working when Kimi Raikkonen could manage only
a 1m21.723s, splitting the McLarens.
But then Massa uncorked a stunning 1m21.421 to knock Alonso off the
top spot. Try as he certainly did, the world champion couldn't
quite match that on his final flier.
Robert Kubica took fifth on the grid for BMW Sauber, while
qualifying specialist Jarno Trulli demoted the other F1.07 of Nick
Heidfeld to seventh.
Heikki Kovalainen, David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella rounded
out the top 10.
