Bahrain GP - Qualifying
It was an all-new look to qualifying this afternoon at Sakhir as Formula One dumped the single car system in favour of the new shoot-out system but it was an old name that proved he has lost none of his pace as Michael Schumacher claimed Pole Position for the Bahrain Grand Prix from Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa.
Schumacher’s first pole Position since Hungary last year gives him a career total of 65, equalling the long-held record set by the late Ayrton Senna. For Schumacher and Ferrari, it was the perfect way to remind his championship rivals that they are still a major force in Formula One.

Felipe Massa was mighty impressive in what was his first qualifying session for Ferrari as he missed out on his first pole by just 0.047s to Schumacher. The former Sauber driver is chasing his first podium tomorrow afternoon in Bahrain.

Over at Honda, who had set the practice pace for much of the weekend, Jenson Button starts third a tenth down on Schumacher while Rubens Barrichello was unable to get close to the pace of his younger team-mate and is somewhat fortunate to start just three positions further back.


Renault played the waiting game to perfection throughout the three phases of qualifying, but when it really counted in the final five minutes of the third and final phase, Fernando Alonso was only able to qualify fourth fastest while Giancarlo Fisichella starts just ninth in the second R26.

Juan Pablo Montoya steered clear of trouble and put in solid performance in his MP4-21 and starts fifth, but as is so commonly the problem for McLaren, the other car driven by Kimi Raikkonen was in big trouble. Raikkonen, the runner up to Alonso in the championship last year brought out the red flags in the very first phase of qualifying following a high speed right rear suspension failure. The Finn dragged his McLaren back to the pits minus its rear wing but his session was over even before he had recorded a lap time. Raikkonen starts 22nd and last.

Mark Webber did a solid job in his Williams Cosworth and starts seventh with team-mate Nico Rosberg finding the limits of his FW28 and then going beyond them in 12th position for his Grand Prix debut.

Christian Klien did a very good job in his Red Bull Ferrari to qualify eighth ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Renault. Team-mate David Coulthard starts back in 13th position after being eliminated in the second phase of qualifying.

Nick Heidfeld gave BMW Sauber their first top ten qualifying position while Jacques Villeneuve was 11th in the sister F1.06. Over at Toyota, it was not a happy session with Jarno Trulli, second here last year, just 14th on the grid and Ralf Schumacher a lacklustre 17th.

The V10 power of Toro Rosso did not propel the team to the top of the timesheets as some had feared as Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed start 15th and 16th while Christijan Albers piped MF1 team-mate Tiago Monteiro to 18th position. Super Aguri Honda racers Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide start 20th and 21st ahead of the unfortunate Kimi Raikkonen.

The new qualifying system provided plenty of thrills and for Ferrari; they are making the perfect start to the 2006 season.

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