The Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday Qualification
May 13th, 2006 by AJ
The stands covered in a sea of Blue and Yellow with spots of red. The competetion between 11 teams, 22 drivers each trying their hardest to get to the only spot that matters to most, the Pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya located in Barcelona Spain.
The qualifying produced all that was expected and more. There were really only two contenders for the front two rows, Ferrari and Renault. Alonso driving at his home grand prix was absolutely magnificent keeping up all the expectations that is expected of him and giving all the fans something to cheer themselves hoarse about.
But Michael was the one who really impressed me. In the first two sessions of qualifying, Michael ran only three laps in total, but in those three laps, he treated all the other drivers with such disdain like they were running street cars. In both those sessions, he out-classed everyone else to come out on top.
Unfortunately in the 3rd, he could not produce a similar finish, maybe when it mattered the most. He could only finish 3rd fastest which I would guess be due to a slightly higher fuel load (although why it would be so is beyond me). Alonso produced a classic lap running extremely fast and clean to secure the pole position. He was followed by his team mate Fisichella. The ferraris will occupy the second row tomorrow when the red lights go out. Mclaren were a sore disappointment with my second favorite Kimi managing only a 9th place. I was also disappointed by my current rookie favorite, Nico Rosberg who will languish at 13th place.
The complete qualifying timings and another review of today’s qualifying, can be viewed in Haas’ review.