Spanish F1 GP 2008 - Qualifying : Alonso gives Renault 2nd Position in Spain

First qualifying since all the new aero parts and there certainly is some improvements and changes in the top 10. First is Renault and wow, Alonso 2nd after holding pole until Raikkonen pulls out a last lap to squeeze by Alonso. It’s a good bet that Alonso was light on fuel and will be one of the first to pit in the race. Both Renault in Q3 with Piquet in 10th. Now that’s an improvement for Renault with their new fin and Alonso driving.
BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica looked great throughout, but last laps of Q3 send him to 4th when Raikkonen and Alonso battled for pole. BMW sits 4th with Kubica and 9th with Heidfeld.

It was up and down for McLaren all through qualifying and in the end, they still need some speed from that car. Hamilton finishing 5th with Kovalainen in 6th.
Down the grid a bit and disappointment for Honda who had hoped for at least one car in Q3, but not today. Barrichello just missing in 11th and Button 13th.

Both Williams made it to Q2, but that’s as far as they got. Nakajima out qualified his team mate Nico Rosberg by 3 places and starts 12th with Rosberg in 15th.
Mark Webber did his job well today covering for a David Coulthard who failed miserably. Webber into Q3 and will start 7th ahead of Jarno Trulli in 8th and Heidfeld in 9th. His team mate Coulthard, the fast Coulthard in morning practice didn’t even make Q2 and will start 17th in more crash territory. Coulthard did have trouble with traffic and said he wasn’t able to get his tires up to temperature.

I can’t say Force India are too happy today after looking like Fisichella would at least make Q2, neither he or Sutil finished ahead of anyone but Davidson and Sato. Fisichella will start 19th and Sutil 20th.

Sebastian Vettel’s season just isn’t going well. Today he didn’t manage Q2, but team mate Bourdais did. Neither Toro Rosso cars look good for the race.

1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:21.813
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault 1:21.904
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:22.058
4. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1:22.065
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.096
6. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.231
7. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:22.429
8. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 1:22.529
9. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1:22.542
10. Nelson Piquet Brazil Renault 1:22.699
11. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda 1:21.049
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1:21.117
13. Jenson Button Britain Honda 1:21.211
14. Timo Glock Germany Toyota 1:21.230
15. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1:21.349
16. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.724
17. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault 1:21.810
18. Sebastian Vettel Germany Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.108
19. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Ferrari 1:22.516
20. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Ferrari 1:23.224
21. Anthony Davidson Super Super Aguri-Honda 1:23.318
22. Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 1:23.496