FORMULA 1™ Gran Premio de Espana 2006 : 12-14 May 2006
An all-Renault front row in Spain
Round 6, 14 May, 2006. Barcelona, Spain.
Lap distance: 4.627km/2.875 miles Race: 66 laps - 305.256km/189.777 miles

13th May 2006

Fernando Alonso gave his countrymen what they wanted in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon, by taking his second consecutive pole position with a lap of 1m 14.648s. And, crucially for Renault’s strategy, Giancarlo Fisichella backed him with a strong lap of 1m 14.709s, which was good enough to resist Michael Schumacher’s final challenge which left the German third on 1m 14.970s. With Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa posting 1m 15.442s, Renault and their greatest title rivals occupied the prime positions.

In the closing stages Jenson Button tumbled from fifth place as Honda team mate Rubens Barrichello banged in a lap of 1m 15.885s, which was then matched by Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota. With Jarno Trulli also improving, to 1m 15.976s, Button’s 1m 16.008s left him on the outside of the fourth row. On the fifth, Kimi Raikkonen seemed unobtrusive on his way to 1m 16.015s for McLaren as Nick Heidfeld’s 1m 17.144s left his BMW Sauber 10th.

The first session proved disastrous for David Coulthard, who went off in Turn 3 on his first flying lap and backed his Red Bull into the wall. With the rear wing torn off, together with much of the rear suspension, the hapless Scot was clearly through for the day and would be the 22nd man on the grid.

The session also weeded out another Scott, Speed, who lapped his Toro Rosso in 1m 17.361s for 17th fastest. There was a bit of a gap to Tiago Monteiro’s Midland on 1m 17.702s, while Christijan Albers was unhappy to be blocked by one of the Super Aguris en route to 1m 18.024s. Takuma Sato was 20th on 1m 18.920s, leaving Franck Montagny 21st. With Jacques Villeneuve’s engine penalty applied, however, his BMW Sauber fell to 22nd, promoting all of this bunch a place.

courtesy : www.formula1.com