Renault hit back to secure front row double
New world champion Fernando Alonso shocked McLaren by snatching pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today.
McLaren trail Alonso’s Renault team by two points in the constructors’ championship going into tomorrow’s last race of the season, but they were favourites to overhaul that deficit after dominating practice.
However, Alonso produced a superb lap of one minute 34.080 seconds to claim his sixth pole position of the season, beating team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella into second place by 0.321secs.
McLaren’s top driver was Kimi Raikkonen in third place, almost half a second behind Alonso’s pole time.
Jenson Button recovered from a viral infection on Thursday to take his place in the car and qualify fourth for his 100th Formula One start.
The BAR-Honda driver, who is chasing his 10th consecutive points finish, briefly held top spot after deposing McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya before slipping down to the second row.
Montoya’s first-lap accident in Japan last weekend hurt his pole position chances today, forcing him to hit the track early in qualifying.
That meant he had a dusty circuit to contend with but he overcame that handicap to set the fifth fastest time.
Michael Schumacher, who is preparing for a five-year reign as world champion to officially come to and end tomorrow, recovered from a poor start to his lap to eclipse Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
The German ran slightly wide early in his lap but made up time to secure sixth place, while Barrichello was eighth.
Scotsman David Coulthard, fresh from a superb sixth place in Japan, split the two Ferraris with a fine lap in his Red Bull.
Coulthard has traditionally struggled with one-lap qualifying but put together a clean lap to maintain his good form.
Takuma Sato will start his final race for BAR-Honda from 17th after a disappointing qualifying lap.
The Japanese driver was first out in qualifying, courtesy of his disqualification at Suzuka, and that hampered his lap time, which ended up three seconds off the pace.
He was even outqualified by Indian rookie Narain Karthikeyan, who took 15th with a strong lap on the eve of Jordan’s last race before they are rebranded Midland.
Sauber’s last race will see Felpe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve start from 11th and 16th respectively while Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos will begin the final Minardi outing from 18th and 20th respectively.
