With Nico finishing in ninth after the final practice session it was hopeful that he
will be able to make his way into the third period of qualifying. As for Alex his
lack of pace, shown by his nineteenth fastest in final practice, was going to make it difficult for the Austrian in qualifying.

Period one would commence and it was Trulli followed by Sutil the first drivers to
come out. Nico would also come out joined by Alex. Trulli would start his timed lap, with his team telling him he has two flying laps. His time would be a 1m:23.095 followed by Sutil with a 1m:24.525. Albers was now second. Both Red Bulls and Renault's were out on the track. Liuzzi was now fastest, 1m:22.544, followed by Nico with a 1m:23.026. Coulthard was now fastest, 1m:22.491, followed by Sato. Nico was now in fifth and Alex eighth, 1m:23.534.

Davidson would move to the top of the times, 1m:22.353. Kovalainen would move into second, 1m:22.399. Alex's next lap would see him in sixth, 1m:22.769. to move ahead of Nico for the first time the whole weekend. Nico had pitted, joined by Alex. Everyone was now out with six minutes remaining. Hamilton was on a quick lap moving to the top of the times with a 1m:21.120 to be over a second faster than second placed Davidson.Alex and Nico were in seventh and eighth. Raikkonen was now second followed by Heidfeld. Kubica was in fifth, 1m:21.980. Hamilton would pit.

Massa had yet to set a time. Alonso was now second, 1m:21.609. Massa's first lap was a 1m:21.375 to now be in second. Fisichella had yet to set a time with just three minutes left in the period. Fisichella would hear out with two minutes remaining. Albers would run off into the gravel but was able to continue. Alex and Nico were in twelfth and thirteenth.

Both Alex and Nico were back out as the final seconds counted down. Davidson was sill in seventh. Fisichella would move into eleventh, 1m:22.509. Alex and Nico were now thirteenth and fourteenth. Sato was now in seventh. Nico would improve dramatically moving into seventh. This became eighth as Kovalainen moved into fifth. Alex was in eighteenth and looking to not make the cut. With the end of the period it would be Schumacher, Alex, Webber, Sutil, Albers, and Speed who would be dropped. Nico was in eighth. Fastest was Hamilton from Massa, Alonso, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Kubica, Nico, Fisichella, and Sato in tenth.

Alex's performance in the period was totally expected given his lack of pace throughout the whole of all the practice sessions leading up to today's qualifying.

With Alex now watching proceedings from the pits the second period would get
underway. Nico should be able to make it through into the final period. No one would head out with the start of period two. Nico was sitting patiently in his car. Trulli was first out in the remaining Toyota followed by Coulthard and Sato. Surprisingly all four Honda powered cars had made it into period two. Nico was now out, joined by both Renault's. With five minutes run there were only seven drivers on the track.

Trulli was fastest with a 1m:21.931 but Coulthard moved ahead of him. Sato was in third. Nico was now in third, 1m:22.036. Kovalainen was now fastest, 1m:21.623. Fisichella was now in third. Nico was now down in fifth. Sato would stop out on the track while Davidson would run wide at the Campsa corner going over the gravel. Nico would pit. Hamilton was on a quick lap going fastest with a 1m:20.713. Raikkonen was now in second, 1m:20.741. Heidfeld was now in third, 1m:21.113. Nico was now in ninth.

But it would be Massa who would snatch P1 with a 1m:20.597. With four minutes left Kubica was now seventh. Nico was now tenth. Alonso had yet to set a time so things were looking very uncertain as to whether Nico would make period three. Nico was back out for his final run. He was now in eleventh as Alonso had moved into fourth, 1m:20.797. With one minute to go there were eleven drivers on the track. The top five drivers were all in their pits.

Kubica would improve to now be in sixth. The period would end but Nico was still on a flying lap. He would set personal best times in sector one and three but his second sector would see him lose time. He was still in eleventh. His time was a 1m:21.968, an improvement, but not enough to see him move up the order. Nico would pit seeing him not make the cut. Joining Nico in not making the cut was Barrichello, Sato, Button, Davidson, and Liuzzi. So we had lost all the Honda powered cars.

For the Williams team to see both drivers not make it past period two must be a bitter disappointment. The final ten drivers would now take on their race fuel in preparation for the final period.

Hamilton was first at the end of the pit lane followed by Raikkonen. The lights would turn green and the eight cars would take to the track. Both Renault's remained in the pits. They would begin their process of burning off fuel. Raikkonen was running close behind the McLaren. Both Renault's were now out on the track. The drivers were on the harder tyres as they burned off fuel. Alonso was fastest with a 1m:22.846 as they continued circulating around the track.

Massa was second followed by Hamilton. Heidfeld would move into second. There times were around two seconds slower than their earlier times. Heidfeld would pit joined by Trulli. Hamilton was next in. He would be joined by Massa, Kubica, Coulthard, and Raikkonen. Alonso was also in. Kubica would opt for the harder tyre while the others were on the softer option. There was six minutes remaining. In the pit lane Hamilton would come out just in front of Raikkonen's Ferrari.

Hamilton would go fastest but was beaten by Raikkonen. Massa was now second but Alonso would move ahead of them all with a 1m:21.661. All the front runners would pit for fresh tyres. They would all come back out on the softer tyres. Hamilton was in front of Raikkonen as they started their final run. The period would end as Massa went fastest, 1m:21.421, followed by Alonso, Raikkonen, and Hamilton. Alonso's final lap was a 1m:21.451, to just miss out on P1 by three hundreds of a second. So we had Massa on pole followed by Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kubica, Trulli, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Coulthard, and Fisichella.

For the Williams team Nico and Alex will start the Spanish Grand Prix from eleventh and eighteenth grid positions. From here it is going to be a difficult race for them to produce even a points scoring finish.