World championship leader Fernando Alonso set a sizzling pace in the roasting desert heat in Manama on Saturday to claim the fastest time in first qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
In temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius, the Spaniard, who won the last race in Malaysia, set a time of 1:29,848 to finish 0,145 ahead of closest challenger Jarno Trulli of Toyota.
The pair have dominated qualifying in the first few races and even with world champions Ferrari bringing a new F2005 machine to Bahrain this weekend, they dominated again as the only two drivers inside the 1:29 barrier.
Alonso said: ”I feel great! It has been a good weekend again, no problems with the car again, the team has done a fantastic job. Yesterday [Friday] the car was really good and again today.
”The car is working perfectly and the team is doing all they can at the moment to ensure this continues. This morning, we prepared the car for the race and not too much for qualifying so to be first today is good news for us.”
Trulli added: ”You don’t think about where you are, you just want to go as fast as you can and we could not have expected to be here when we stated our relationship with Toyota.
”This morning we were working on the car set-up and the team has done a great job. Now we have to keep this momentum, we have to carry on working and it should be an interesting race.”
World champion Michael Schumacher prepared the new Ferrari for its race debut on Sunday by finishing third fastest after the team limited running in practice but he was 0,389 seconds off the lead pace.
However, he is confident his car will be strong in the race.
”It was a great effort from everyone to get the new car here for the grand prix and we feel quite good.
”This is a team sport, we have had two difficult races, particularly Malaysia, but usually in Malaysia we have been pretty far off and I don’t think there is any worry and we will find our way back on the track.”
German Nick Heidfeld and Australian Mark Webber finished fourth and sixth fastest in their respective Williams machines, with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, in the second Renault, splitting them with the fifth-fastest time.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen, in the lead McLaren, finished seventh fastest with Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa ninth, just behind the Red Bull Racing machine of Austrian Christian Klien, and Felipe Massa completed the top 10 for Sauber.
De la Rosa, who is replacing the injured Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya at McLaren this weekend, was the first driver on the circuit and he set a respectable time of 1:30,725.
Japanese driver Takuma Sato finished 0,388 down on the leader in his BAR-Honda and Canadian Sauber driver Jacques Villeneuve struggled as he ran wide in the final corner and finished more than one-and-a-half seconds off the early pace.
Webber had set the fastest lap to date around the Bahrain circuit in final practice and he briefly went to the top of the times before Fisichella pushed him down with a lap of 1:30,445 in his Renault.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who missed the entire morning’s practice nursing a gearbox problem on his new Ferrari, locked his brakes into the first corner and his time was more than 1,381 seconds off the lead pace.
Massa slotted in behind De la Rosa into fourth place, almost 1,4 seconds faster than teammate Villeneuve, then Raikkonen slotted into third spot and Klien posted a time just behind him.
World champion Schumacher was out next and he was quickest of all drivers in the first sector, even quicker in the second, and finished with a time 0,208 seconds ahead of Fisichella’s Renault.
Scot David Coulthard failed to get close to the leading time in his Red Bull Racing machine and Ralf Schumacher lost time when he went a little wide on his first sector.
Nick Heidfeld set a strong time in his Williams but failed to match Schumacher’s time by 0,153 seconds as he slotted into second with just Trulli and Alonso left to run. — Sapa-AFP