Alonso keeps Renault on top
Fernando Alonso continued Renault’s dominance of the new Formula One season by topping first qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix today.
The Spaniard, who finished third in Australia two weeks ago despite starting from the wrong end of the grid, put in a scintillating lap in the Sepang heat to top qualifying this afternoon.
Alonso’s time of one minute 32.582 seconds was just 0.090secs faster than the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, although the final line-up will not be decided until tomorrow’s final session when the times are aggregated.
World championship leader Giancarlo Fisichella was third quickest in his Renault while Kimi Raikkonen put his McLaren fourth. Ralf Schumacher was fifth in the other Toyota and Mark Webber gave Williams sixth.
Jenson Button was a disappointing nine for BAR while David Coulthard could only manage 11th, one place behind Red Bull team-mate Christian Klien.
Ferrari suffered a mediocre showing with world champion Michael Schumacher languishing in 12th and facing a deficit of nearly 1.5secs to pole position. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello was two places further back.
One of the better performances of the session came from Anthony Davidson, who took 15th.
Davidson was a surprise name on the timing sheets in first practice, with BAR announcing him as a replacement for the sick Takuma Sato just as the session began.
A fever-hit Sato spent time on a drip last night at the circuit medical centre but doctors advised him to pull out, giving Davidson his big break.
He was first on track for his first Formula One qualifying session for nearly three years and put in a tidy lap to earn a round of applause from his BAR team.
He was soon knocked off top spot by Williams driver Nick Heidfeld, whose time remained the one to beat after Schumacher’s disappointing run.
Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who came in for heavy criticism following a poor start his Sauber career, did little to silence his critics with a clean lap which was well short of Heidfeld’s marker.
Ralf Schumacher gave under-performing Toyota reason for optimism by deposing Heidfeld only for team-mate Trulli to depose him.
Toyota had shown well in this morning’s practice but few expected the red and white cars to stay at the top when the serious business of qualifying began.
But Trulli’s time withstood challenge from both McLarens of Juan Pablo Montoya and Raikkonen.
Alonso proved too quick though and the Spaniard just inched ahead of Trulli before Rubens Barrichello hinted at problems for Ferrari with a lap even slower than team-mate Schumacher’s.
Alonso was confirmed in top spot when Fisichella failed to improve in the last act of the session.
Add Leading Final Positions after First Qualifying
1 laps: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1min 32.582secs,
2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:32.672,
3 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:32.765,
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 1:32.839,
5 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:33.106,
6 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams BMW 1:33.204,
7 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren Mercedes 1:33.333,
8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams BMW 1:33.464,
9 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 1:33.616,
10 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:33.724,
11 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 1:33.809,
12 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:34.072,
13 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas 1:34.151,
14 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:34.162,
15 Anthony Davidson (Gbr) BAR Honda 1:34.866,
16 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber Petronas 1:34.887,
17 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan Toyota 1:37.806,
18 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan Toyota 1:37.856,
19 Patrick Friesacher (Ger) Minardi Cosworth 1:39.268,
20 Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi Cosworth 1:40.432
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