By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
June 25 2006

The Toyota team were looking for a good result after a disappointing race at Silverstone, and their qualifying effort in Canada certainly raised morale. In a hard fought session Ralf Schumacher could only manage fourteenth whilst Jarno Trulli put in a super effort to take fourth on the grid. Knockout One

As the cars filtered out on track for the first time it was Ralf Schumacher who set the early pace. A time of 1.22.019 didn’t last long as the Williams of Nico Rosberg went faster by some margin with a1.17.917. Then Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed went fastest with a 1.17.769, compared to Rosberg and Ralf, it was a very good effort by the American driver who was running a rev limited V10. As the session quickly progressed Jarno and Ralf would find themselves in 6th and 9th places respectively with just less than nine minutes left to go. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen then went fastest with a time of 1.16.778, with the whole field seemingly in on used tyres as the times didn’t look to be reflecting the pace set in practice. With 6 minutes to go Jarno and Ralf were down in 12th and 16th respectively, not very good news for Ralf who was in danger of being knocked out, as Fernando Alonso went fastest. Giancarlo Fisichella in the Renault and both BMW-Sauber drivers had still yet to registered a time, which by the looks of their pace in Practice, would see Toyota’s moving further down the grid. But with four minutes left in the session Ralf saved himself and moved into 14th position, with Jarno looking comfortable in 8th place. With seconds to go Nico Rosberg was in the drop zone and in danger of being knocked out, but as he was on a lap, which would ultimately move him out of the drop zone, he pushed his teammate Mark Webber down into 16th and out of qualifying. But thankfully both Toyota’s were through to knockout 2, whilst Mark Webber, Scott Speed, Tiago Monteiro, Christijan Albers, Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny were all out.

Top 6: Alonso, Raikkonen, M.Schumacher. Heidfeld, Fisichella, Montoya

Bottom 6 and knocked out: Webber, Speed, Monteiro, Albers, Sato, Montagny

Knockout Two

Thankfully both Jarno and Ralf were through to the second session but judging by the pace from the practice sessions and the first knock out, this would be a tough session for both drivers. Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was the first driver out on track in the session and set an opening time of 1.16.874. World Champion Fernando Alonso then blitzed it with a 1.14.726; the times were clearly starting to fall. Meanwhile Jarno went a great 4th and Ralf a solid 8th, things were looking up for the Toyota duo. Both Honda’s were in the drop, with only five minutes to go, with the field very close together on times. Ralf had fallen back to 10th and was right on the edge of the knock out, meanwhile his brother Michael Schumacher in Ferrari moved up a spot to 2nd place, just a few tenths behind main championship rival Alonso. With less than 3 minutes to go Jarno jumped up one place from 7th to 6th, and looking comfortable to go through to the pole shoot out. Ralf was once again in danger of being knocked out and with one minute to go he wasn’t out on track with the two Red Bulls, the two BMW-Sauber’s and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello in the Honda all looking to improve their times. Barrichello moved into 9th place ahead of teammate Jenson Button and along with it knocked Ralf out of the qualifying session, Ralf eventually finished down in 14th position, a very disappointing outcome. The big surprise of the session however was BMW-Sauber team, with both cars eliminated after what looked to be a promising afternoon. Home favorite Jacques Villeneuve finished 11th, and Nick Heidfeld 13th. A very disappointing outcome for a team that had looked so quick all through practice. Alonso once again finished the session on top with Jarno ending up in 7th place.

Top 6: Alonso, M.Schumacher, Montoya, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Fisichella

Bottom 6 and Knocked out: Villeneuve, Klien Heidfeld, R.Schumacher, Liuzzi, Coulthard

Final Pole Shoot-Out

Jarno was the sole-remaining Toyota left in the session and hoping for a good result, he would do battle with both of the Renaults, both of the Ferrari’s, the McLaren and Honda duo and Williams’ Nico Rosberg. As usual the first few minutes of the session saw the fuel burning laps before the driver’s set any proper times. The early laps saw Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher trading fastest times whilst Jarno Trulli moved into 6th with 9 minutes to go. Ferrari were the first team to blink bringing in both Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa to take on new tyres in an attempt for pole, with McLaren the next team to follow as the rest of the field dived in for new tyres. Schumacher set the first real qualifying time taking provisional pole with a 1.16.284 with Massa a further 2 seconds slower with a 1.18.789, neither of the times particularly stunning, maybe the Ferraris were running heavy? McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen lowered the bar to a 1.15.564, the action was now hotting up. Alonso then drove a great lap, which allowed him to take provisional pole away from Raikkonen with a time of 1.14.942. Jarno Trulli was still in 9th, and with seconds to go Rosberg went 4th demoting Jarno to 10th, but the Italian responded by going 4th himself, a great effort! Meanwhile Raikkonen was setting himself up to take pole away from Alonso but could only manage 2nd. But Alonso still wasn’t safe, his recently re-signed team mate Giancarlo Fisichella was on a good lap but like Raikkonen couldn’t hold it together, he took second position away from Raikkonen but made it an all Renault front row. Michael Schumacher moved up to 5th, just behind Jarno underlining improved performance from the Italian and the Toyota team.

So Alonso will start on pole followed by team mate Fisichella, Raikkonen, Jarno, Michael in the first of the Ferrari’s, Rosberg, Montoya, Jenson Button, Honda

Top 10: Alonso, Fisichella, Raikkonen, Trulli, M.Schumacher, Rosberg, Montoya, Button, Barrichello, Massa.