Hoodoo over for Alonso
Fernando Alonso ended his qualifying hoodoo by claiming pole position for the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
The world champion had not started a race from the front row all season in his Renault but that run has ended after a stunning qualifying display.
Alonso’s lap of one minute 29.819 seconds was marginally quicker than Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, who beat the Spaniard last time out at Imola to win his first race of the season.
Schumacher’s team-mate Felipe Massa took third on the grid to suggest the former world champions are capable of repeating their Imola form tomorrow.
Rubens Barrichello out-qualified Honda team-mate Jenson Button for the first time this season, taking fourth place to the Englishman’s sixth.
Kimi Raikkonen is the lead McLaren on engine partner Mercedes’ home ground. He will start fifth with team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya down in ninth.
For the second consecutive race Giancarlo Fisichella left team-mate Alonso to do battle at the front on his own after a dismal qualifying showing.
While Alonso was battling fr top spot Fisichella will start 11th, blaming Villeneuve for his slow lap.
Villeneuve was just ahead on Fisichella’s best lap but the Italian’s finger-pointing in the BMW-Sauber pit seemed an over reaction.
Scotsman David Coulthard was just behind Fisichella in 12th for Red Bull while Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher starts his 150th grand prix from 10th.
Williams suffered a crushing blow this morning when they were forced to change engines on both cars.
Mark Webber’s Cosworth engine developed a problem in practice and had to be replaced while a new unit was installed in Nico Rosberg’s car as a precaution. The resulting 10-place penalties dropped the pair down to 20th and 22nd respectively.
Timing chaos caused confusion after the first qualifying session, when Jacques Villeneuve’s chances looked to have been ruined by a phantom red flag.
The official timing screens warned of a red flag with three minutes to go, apparently scuppering the BMW-Sauber driver’s fast lap.
He was 21st at the end of the session but a timing gremlin meant his fast lap was not initially recorded and, following a 10-minute delay to sort out the problem, he was given a reprieve and allowed to start the second knock-out run.
That news was unwelcome in the Red Bull pit as it dropped Christian Klien into the bottom six, meaning he missed the cut and will start 15th, helped by penalties for both Williams drivers.
His team were unhappy that Klien had no opportunity to move out of the drop zone as the true standings only materialised after the session ended.
Franck Montagny’s first qualifying run as a Formula One driver ended early as Super Aguri kept up their record of missing the first cut in every session this season.
The former Renault test driver, who spun midway through the first session, was hamstrung by the red flag incident and failed to set a competitive time.
He will, nevertheless, become France’s first grand prix driver since 2004 when he starts from 21st spot on the grid tomorrow.
1 AUTO European Positions
European Grand Prix, Nurburgring, Germany
Grid positions after qualifying: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1min 29.819secs, 2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 01:30.028, 3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:30.407, 4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 01:30.754, 5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:30.933, 6 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 01:30.940, 7 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:31.419, 8 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 01:31.542, 9 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 01:31.880, 10 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 01:30.944, 11 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 01:31.197, 12 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 01:31.227, 13 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 01:31.422, 14 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:31.728, 15 Christijan Albers (Ned) Midland 01:32.936, 16 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 01:32.901, 17 Scott Speed (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:32.992, 18 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Midland 01:33.658, 19 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 01:35.239, 20 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 01:33.405, 21 Franck Montagny (Fra) Super Aguri 01:46.505, 22 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 01:31.194
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