By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
May 6 2006

If it wasnt for Villeneuve's last lap effort, both Toyota's would had been in the pole shoot out. Sadly you cannot predict F1 and todays qualifying session was another good example. In another close qualifying hour, Ralf didn't make it into the final cut, but both Toyota's will start in the top ten. Knockout One

Ralf wasted no time in knockout one, becoming the first driver to post a time. This was followed by the Williams duo of Rosberg and Webber with the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato also on track. Jarno would quickly follow up his teammates lap by slotting into second just behind Ralf. But with six minutes to go the big guns of Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Honda came out, forcing Jarno to slowly drop down the timesheets and like Imola’s first Knockout session leaving him in the dropout zone. But luckily the Italian put in a fast lap to move up into tenth, whilst Ralf was already safely in, in sixth. But with 3.28 minutes to go the computer announced a red flag, which later turned out to be a problem with the timing system. The clocks then suddenly restarted whilst everyone was being wheeled into the pit lane, forcing them back out very quickly. This was bad news for BMW-Sauber’s Jacques Villeneuve and Red Bull Racing’s Christian Klien who were in the drop zone. Villeneuve had to abort his flying lap which looked good enough for seventh, but when the session restarted the French-Canadian didn’t have enough time to improve. It was good news however for Toro Rosso’s Tonio Liuzzi and Midland’s Christijan Albers who were in the top 16. But there was still confusion to who finished where due to the timing error. There was then a 10 minute period of waiting around whilst an enquiry into what happened was carried out. Afterwards race control published a list of the positions with World Championship leader Alonso in the Renault at the top of the tree whilst Jacques Villeneuve was promoted to seventh, just behind Ralf. Heidfeld was now fifth and Jarno ended up thirteenth whilst Klien remained in the drop zone. Christijan Albers’ fairy tale had come to an end due to Villeneuve being promoted forcing the Dutchman into the drop zone. Super Aguri newcomer Franck Montagny finished last in his first F1 qualifying session.

Top 6: (revised) Alonso, M.Schumacher, Raikkonen, Button, Heidfeld, R.Schumacher

Bottom 6 and knocked out: (revised) Klien, Albers, Speed, Monteiro, Sato, Montagny

Knockout Two

So after 10 minutes of complete confusion and madness, qualifying restarted with the sole remaining (and maybe very lucky) Toro Rosso of Liuzzi first out. Jarno was the first of the two Toyota’s to take to the track, quickly going into third with Jacques Villeneuve heading the chat. Ralf made a mistake on his lap, but it obviously didn’t dent his confidence as he went into second. But this was now the time where Toyota had to show their real pace as the usual suspects suddenly hit the top; Ferrari, McLaren, Honda and Renault all came out and got ahead of the Toyota pairing, putting Jarno and Ralf in the drop zone. Jarno got out of the drop zone fairly quickly going into sixth position (which would become seventh at the end of the session). Ralf trying to repeat his teammates success spun on his first lap, later going on to set the ninth fastest time, two places away from the drop zone. Sure enough he would go out thanks to Mark Webber (who would have to take a 10 place grid drop along with team mate Rosberg due to an engine change) and Jacques Villeneuve who put in a great last minute effort. Not only did Jacques help knock out Ralf but also Fisichella. Giancarlo felt that Jacques had cost him time on his flying lap, which resulted in Fisichella being knocked in the second session for the second race weekend in a row. Fisichella was not best pleased with Villeneuve and he marched down to the BMW-Sauber garage showing his clear anger at the French Canadian, but no one can disagree it was very entertaining.

Top 6: M.Schumacher, Raikkonen, Alonso, Barrichello, Montoya, Massa

Bottom 6 and Knocked out: R.Schumacher, Rosberg (loses 10 places), Fisichella, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Liuzzi

Final Pole Shoot-Out

So luckily the sole remaining Toyota of Jarno Trulli had came through to the pole shoot-out. The first few minutes of the session saw the customary burn off fuel runs with all the remaining drivers going out on track. However 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher did set the fastest few laps early on with Massa in hot pursuit, both of the Ferrari’s going very near to what could be called race pace, it was looking like it might be a Ferrari red-wash for the front of the grid. Jarno Trulli was looking fairly strong as well he went into seventh early on, and then moved up the order a bit hitting fifth place before the last dash for new tyres. With 10 minutes to go the action really started as the drivers dived into the pits to prepare their cars for the final hectic minutes of the session, with the Ferrari’s of Massa and Michael pitting first, followed by the Honda’s of Button and Barrichello and then the sole Renault of Alonso. It was Button who set the first real meaningful time of the session with a 1.31.715 but traffic would cost him later. Alonso eclipsed the Britons effort with a 1.30.545, Alonso had well and truly set the benchmark, Schumacher challenged Alonso’s authority but he just missed out and there was still 5 minutes in the session to go! Everyone once again dived into the pits, which included Jarno who had now dropped back to tenth. It was now all systems go as Alonso and Schumacher continued their duel and it was Alonso who had Michael conquered as he beat his own time with a 1.29.819. Jarno put in a good effort to jump into seventh ahead of Villeneuve, who had such an eventful session ending with a super eighth place. Montoya who is likely to be carrying a lot of fuel was ninth and Webber with his engine change in tenth, which would become 20th, promoting Ralf Schumacher into the top ten.

Top 10: Alonso, M.Schumacher, Massa, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Button, Trulli, Villeneuve, Montoya, Webber.

Notes

Both Williams’ of Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg will take a ten place drop on the grid due to engine changes.