United States Grand Prix Qualifying, Pole: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Time: 1:10.832 (July 1, 2006)
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0 commentsThe Ferraris were first and second in all three segments of the session, with Felipe Massa leading Q1 before Schumacher took charge for the remainder of the hour.
Schumacher's 1m10.832s pole time was 0.6s quicker than the oversteering Massa, and over a second faster than the best non-Renault.
It was Giancarlo Fisichella who emerged as best of the rest, while his championship leading team-mate Fernando Alonso struggled.
The winner of the past four races only just scraped into the final part of qualifying, and was then knocked back from fourth in fifth in the final seconds as Rubens Barrichello surged onto the second row for Honda.
"We are very surprised how quick Ferrari are," Fisichella admitted.
Paddock wisdom suggests that today's results - so different to the pecking order in Montreal just a week ago - are largely a consequence of Brigestone turning the tables on Michelin.
Unlike Indianapolis 2005, Schumacher will have to fend off 21 rival cars rather than just five in tomorrow's race.
But on today's evidence, he may find his progress to victory just as easy.
Renault may yet have a trick or two up its sleeve, however, as Pat Symonds hinted that the team had resigned itself to missing out on pole, so had planned its strategy accordingly.
Jacques Villeneuve will start an excellent sixth, but it could have been an even better day for BMW-Sauber.
Nick Heidfeld had also made it through to the top ten shoot-out, only to park at the trackside early on after losing drive.
That left him in 10th, behind Jenson Button, Ralf Schumacher, and Kimi Raikkonen.
The suspicion is that Raikkonen's relative lack of pace is a consequence of McLaren choosing a heavy fuel strategy.
But Juan Pablo Montoya's early departure certainly wasn't part of the team's plan.
He ran out of time to complete his final flying lap in Q2 and ended up 11th.
Mark Webber also dropped out early, taking 12th, with Scott Speed doing a fine job at home to secure 13th - the best of the Red Bull owned cars.
Midland couldn't repeat its amazing Friday practice form, but did get both Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro through to Q2 for the first time.
Its progress meant that some big names were inevitably going to be dumped out of qualifying after the first 15 minutes.
David Coulthard, Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli were the unlucky ones.
Trulli pitted with a suspected suspension problem and was then called to the weightbridge, losing any chance of improving.
A significant milestone was achieved in the bottom group, as a Super Aguri outqualified another car on pace for the first time.
And it wasn't just a fellow backmarker than Takuma Sato embarrassed.
He will start ahead of Rosberg's Williams, Trulli's Toyota and Liuzzi's Toro Rosso.
Starting grid for the United States Grand Prix
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Michael Schumacher, Ferrari 1:10.832
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Felipe Massa, Ferrari 1:11.435
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Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault 1:11.920
- Rubens Barrichello, Honda 1:12.109
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Fernando Alonso, Renault 1:12.449
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Jacques Villeneuve, BMW-Sauber 1:12.479
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Jenson Button, Honda 1:12.523
- Ralf Schumacher, Toyota 1:12.795
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Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.174
- Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber 1:15.280
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Juan Montoya, McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.150
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Mark Webber, Williams-Cosworth 1:12.292
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Scott Speed, Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:12.792
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Christijan Albers, Midland-Toyota 1:12.854
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Tiago Monteiro, Midland-Toyota 1:12.864
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Christian Klien, Red Bull Racing-Ferrari 1:12.925
- David Coulthard, Red Bull Racing-Ferrari 1:13.180
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Takuma Sato, Super Aguri-Honda 1:13.496
- Nico Rosberg, Williams-Cosworth 1:13.506
- Jarno Trulli, Toyota 1:13.787
- Vitantonio Liuzzi, Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:14.041
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Franck Montagny, Super Aguri-Honda 1:16.036
N.B. Cars positioned 17-22 were eliminated after Session 1. Cars positioned 11-16 were eliminated after Session 2. Hence, 10th is slower than 11th.
Date
July 1, 2006
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