Schumacher Back on Pole - Spanish GP
Saturday May 8th, 2004
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher claimed his fifth consecutive pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, blowing away his nearest rival by 0.61 seconds.
Schumacher, who claimed pole in the first three races of the season before Jenson Button took the top spot in Imola, reasserted his qualifying dominance by recording a lap of 1:15.022.
The German, making his 200th Grand Prix appearance this weekend, will start the race alongside Williams rival Juan Pablo Montoya on the front row, with BAR's Takuma Sato in third.
Jarno Trulli will start in fourth, ahead of Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher and Olivier Panis, with Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and David Coulthard completing the top ten.
An error from San Marino pole-sitter Button saw him qualify in 14th, behind Cristiano da Matta, Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen.
Jordan's Nick Heidfeld claimed 16th, but teammate Giorgio Pantano struggled once again and will join backmarker Zsolt Baumgartner on the final row of the grid. Barrichello, home favourite Alonso and McLaren's Coulthard were the fastest of the opening nine runners before Button took to the track.
The British driver recorded the fastest opening sector of the week, but lost time after going onto the grass at the exit of Campsa, ending with a disappointing lap of 1:17.575. Sato, who followed BAR teammate Button onto the track, made no such mistake and drove a faultless lap to go top of the times, half-a-second faster than Barrichello.
Sato was immediately usurped on top of the timings as Schumacher bettered his time by 0.787 seconds.
A fine run from Toyota's Panis saw him edge ahead of Alonso, but Alonso's Renault teammate Jarno Trulli then took third, knocking Barrichello down to fourth place. Ralf Schumacher could make no impact on the top three, but Juan Pablo Montoya, running last in the session, ran 0.17 seconds faster than Sato to claim second place on the grid. |
