The 2006 San Marino Formula 1 Grand Prix

[Ed]

Button sets a 1:24.159 - Fastest!

[Ed]

Michael on a fast lap!

Ralf Schumacher and Trulli pit

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Michael fastest with a 1:23.471

Barrichello second with a 1:23.667.

Alonso pits

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Michael pits and so does Massa

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Alonso on a flyer!

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Alonso 3rd!

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Ralf Schumacher takes 3rd.

Michael flying!

[Ed]

Button goes second!

[Ed]

So Michael Schumacher takes pole ahead of Button and Barrichello.
Massa takes 4th ahead of Alonso and Ralf Schumacher.
Montoya, Raikkonen, Trulli and Webber make the top 10.

[Ed]

The question will be how much fuel does each driver have.

We'll know more around the first pit stops tomorrow.

[Ed]

Well done to Michael Schumacher for his 66th Pole.
Good to see Barrichello at the sharp end securing 3rd on the grid.

Full results

[Ed]

Selected Driver and Team quotes following Qualifying

Michael Schumacher - Pole

We have worked very hard in recent weeks, so it?s wonderful to see it all come right for us. But to be honest, I am not surprised that we have done well. It is very nice to be back on pole again and of course, the fact it is my 66th and so a new record is something very special for me. At the moment, I am concentrating totally on this weekend so I think I will only really appreciate fully what I have done at a later time. Yesterday, I said I was aiming for pole and the win. Today we have reached the first target and I hope I can make the second one tomorrow. I am convinced we have a good chance of winning.

Jenson Button - 2nd

I'm very pleased with the result today and to see both of us in the top three is great for the team. The car was a lot better in qualifying than this morning and the first half of the weekend generally, especially in terms of grip and with the handling over the kerbs. We did a lot of work overnight and through this morning and I'm much happier for the race. We'll have to see how things pan out though because we won't know until then what everyone has been doing through free practice but I think we should feel quite confident. The team have done a great job in addressing the issues from Australia and I think we can have a good race tomorrow

Rubens Barrichello - 3rd

I'm obviously delighted with qualifying today and I have to say a very big thank you to everyone in the team for their hard work in helping me to achieve this result. We have had some problems in the early races but today's qualifying shows the amount of effort we have all put into getting the car more to my liking has paid off. We've had two very good tests to get ready for this race and the team has really been listening to me about what I need for things to improve. I'm much happier with the car now. It's not 100% but we're getting there and I think we can have a much better race tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it

Felipe Massa - 4th

To be honest, I?m not happy. On both my laps with new tyres I had traffic and did not make the most of what I had to work with. The car, the engine and the Bridgestone tyres were certainly worth a place in the top three. Fourth is definitely not a disaster, but I cannot be happy with it. All the same, I am optimistic for the race. We have what we need to get a good result

Fernando Alonso - 5th

I don't think fifth is the perfect place to start at this circuit because overtaking is so difficult, but we are not in such a bad position either. There was a lot of traffic during the third part of qualifying and I came quite close to the 110% time on some of the laps, but when I did my timed laps at the end of qualifying, the car felt good and the track was clear. The balance is better than it was yesterday and feels correct for the race, so now we need to try and make up positions at the start, and believe in the strategy we have chosen. I also wish to clarify comments I made yesterday after they were interpreted in this morning's press. I want to reiterate that I have always enjoyed total technical support from Renault. Renault is known everywhere as a team that treats both of its drivers fairly and equally.

Ralf Schumacher - 6th

We achieved more than we expected today, but I am still not satisfied because I did not do a perfect lap in the traffic at the end of the session. That's a pity because the extra tenth of a second to reach the second row would have been easy to find. Still, this is a very good result and both Jarno and I have done our best. Last year I struggled in qualifying but this car and tyre combination is working better for me. Now we must aim for the points tomorrow. We are not very far away from the top teams and we will do our best to move further forward, but it is very difficult to overtake here. Hopefully we can have our usual good pit stops and then we can see where we end up.

Juan Pablo Montoya - 7th

Today's qualifying result was OK for me particularly considering the limited amount of running I have done so far this weekend. My car developed a fuel pressure problem in practice this morning, and as a result we decided to change to the spare car which was not an issue. However to try and cure the understeer I experienced yesterday, we had made some quite dramatic set-up changes for this morning's practice, but as we never got an opportunity to evaluate them, we went a bit more conservative with the car for qualifying. I think this will pay off in the race because the car is very consistent. There are a number of strategy options, but I think we have chosen the right one and podium positions should definitely be possible.

Kimi Raikkonen - 8th

I'm a bit disappointed as I could have done better today, and I didn't get the opportunity to show the full potential of our package. Everything went well in the first two qualifying sessions, but things didn't go according to plan in the last part of qualifying where I did my two flying laps. On the first run I used the best of my Michelin tyres, but I drove a better lap on my second run but still lost time in the last part of the lap. However I think if things goes our way in the race we should be OK

Jean Todt (Ferrari)

A marvellous qualifying with a great performance from Michael. Felipe did well, but he was unable to exploit the full potential of the car in the final part of the session. When all elements of the package ? drivers, team, chassis, car and tyres ? all work at their best, then the results follow. Today we have made a major step forward and it was nice to do so in front of our fans and our employees, packed into their own grandstand here. But the crucial step comes tomorrow. Everything is in place for us to do well, but we know there are many important factors to take into consideration, first and foremost strategy and reliability. All we
can say is that, for the moment, Ferrari and its technical partners, especially Bridgestone and Shell, are working in the right direction.

Gil de Ferran (Honda)

We are delighted with the way qualifying went. After a tough start to the weekend, having Jenson on the front row and Rubens on the second row in third place puts us in a strong position going into tomorrow's race. Since yesterday we have been working hard on the balance of the car and as the weekend progressed we have been steadily improving. Hopefully the conditions will suit us further this Sunday. Certainly, it is very difficult to predict where everyone is in terms of fuel load and we will have to see how the different strategies play out, however starting near the front gives us the best possible chance

Pat Symonds (Renault)

Giancarlo was very unlucky to be on the wrong end of a big bunch of cars within one tenth of a second in the second knockout session. The eleven millisecond deficit to the competitors in front of him, means we face a very different strategic challenge tomorrow, but it is one that we can rise to. As for Fernando, he looks a little further back on the grid than normal. However, we have managed our weekend with our main challengers in mind, and we feel that we have done the right thing to get the best possible result in tomorrow's race

Dieter Gass (Toyota)

This is the first time this year that we have had both cars actually running in the last session of qualifying so that was a good day for us. Both drivers performed well throughout the afternoon and the first two sessions went well even though it was very tight for who qualified from Session 2. We're happy with Ralf's eventual qualifying position - he was very close to the second row but 6th is still a good performance. We are disappointed about what happened to Jarno because he lost a lot of time on his quick lap. Looking to tomorrow we are happy with the tyres we have here - the performance and grip level was good - and we're happy with the choice we have made for the race and our strategy is looking good. We are still a challenger in F1 and we will now be fighting for a very strong finishing position tomorrow

Ron Dennis (McLaren)

Today's qualifying positions are acceptable bearing in mind our strategy and Juan Pablo's problem in practice this morning. We will only see where we are in comparison to our competition after their first set of pit stops I'm confident that we will have a strong race tomorrow if we avoid any first-lap incidents

Sam Michael (Williams)

It was obviously a close session. Mark made it through to the third segment and did the best job possible. Unfortunately for Nico, he just missed out on the third segment even though he was only a couple of tenths off the top five. After Nico?s accident this morning, the mechanics did a good job changing his chassis by putting his engine into the T-car. Nico?s car will be repaired to provide the spare car for tomorrow. Now we?re looking to the race to see what strategy everybody is on and
what we can achieve.

Mario Theissen (BMW Sauber)

It was a very exciting qualifying session with very close gaps between the drivers? times, but unfortunately we had to watch the breathtaking final 20 minutes as spectators. Jacques missed the top ten by just over a tenth of a second, whereas Nick never managed to get the lap time we expected. He complained about lack of grip and on his last lap tried too hard and lost control of the car. The times are closer than we have seen before, as between fifth and Jacques? 12th position there is only seventeen hundredths of a second

[Julian Mayo]

Schuey, and the Hondas are on fumes.
Alonso, and the Mac cars are mid weight,
The Williams can run fat or lean...eg... Nico.fast and light. Webber reasonably quick and as fat as,......thanks Ed.
Barring Mechanical Failure or brain fade Alonso is my pick a poofteenth ahead of Kimi, and Webber gets his second podium

[Snowy]

Schuey, and the Hondas are on fumes.

I wouldn't bet on it, Schuey has been consistently brisk all week end, I don't think they need to be aggresive with fuel. However the Honda pace is very suspicious I'm hoping it's the result of honest labour and not just another pee up against the wall. If they keep using exactly the same strategy for every race they compete in they will never win. If the system doesn't work you change the system you don't just go on and on making the same mistakes again and again like they do with capitalism in the west!

[Julian Mayo]

Schuey, and the Hondas are on fumes.

I wouldn't bet on it, Schuey has been consistently brisk all week end, I don't think they need to be aggresive with fuel. However the Honda pace is very suspicious I'm hoping it's the result of honest labour and not just another pee up against the wall. If they keep using exactly the same strategy for every race they compete in they will never win. If the system doesn't work you change the system you don't just go on and on making the same mistakes again and again like they do with capitalism in the west!

and communism further west ! Ferrari have IMHO, been rolling the same dice as Honda.........at least get the thing on or about pole for the Sponsors and the Ad campaigns