Bahrain: Qualifying - Disappointment for Toyota

By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton & Nick Sparkes
March 11 2006

The first qualifying session under the new system provided action and drama the whole the way through, with Kimi Raikkonen providing himself with his own entertainment. But for Toyota, disappointment and disbelief; Ralf Schumacher eliminated in the first phase, Jarno in the second.

Phase One:

The first taste of a new qualifying system was always going to uncover heaps of unknowns for everybody in the paddock, not least Toyota. With only a handful of minutes to go neither Toyota had made an impression on the front of the grid, with Jarno Trulli still let to complete a lap. Whilst Jarno was preparing for his first run, Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren spectacularly spun off the race track minus his rear wing and one of his rear wheels due to a suspension failure. Although the Finn was able to limp back to the pits, this brought out the red flags forcing many of the drivers, such as Jarno Trulli, to report back to the pits. With only a few minutes left, and with half the field yet to set a time, the pit lane opened forcing many of the drivers onto the track for one last attempt. Ralf Schumacher struggled with traffic, meaning the German would be one of the first six to be eliminated under the new rules. Jarno Trulli was able to put in a satisfactory effort to keep him in the game.

Top 6: Alonso, Button, Fisichella, Rosberg, Montoya, M.Schumacher.

Bottom 6 and knocked out: R.Schumacher, Albers, Monteiro, Ide, Sato, Raikkonen.

Phase Two:

After the excitement and drama of the first session, there was no time for reflection as the times were reset and the remaining 16 cars ventured out on track for another shot. The only real drama of this session was a spinning Nico Rosberg who touched the barrier with his rear wing. For Toyota, Jarno Trulli failed to make a good impression on the top ten, circling around in eleventh and twelfth places during the session only to be pushed down a further two places to fourteenth right at the end. It was another disappointed session for the whole Toyota team, after losing Ralf 15 minutes earlier. To put Toyota into prospective, they were beaten by Williams, BMW Sauber and Red Bull Racing.

Top 6: Alonso, Montoya, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Massa, M.Schumacher.

Bottom 6 and knocked out: Villeneuve, Rosberg, Coulthard, Trulli, Speed, Liuzzi.

Phase Three:

The last session consisted of the top 10 drivers, running for 20 minutes with race fuel. With the times reset for the final time pretty much all the drivers went out when the pit lane opened. It was only in the last couple of minutes where the drivers pitted for a new set of tyres after trying to lose as much fuel as possible, went for a quick lap. Michael Schumacher popped in his fastest time first to take what would turn out to be pole position, whilst Montoya, Button and Massa all tried their hardest to beat the German, only to end up behind. Renault left their charge late with Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella off the front of the grid, whilst Nick Heidfeld’s messy attempt failed to put him near the front either.

The new system had provided a wave of excitement and drama, with an all Ferrari front row, and a McLaren at the back of the grid. The race on Sunday has a lot to live up to.

Top 10: Schumacher, Massa, Button, Alonso, Montoya, Barrichello, Webber, Klien, Fisichella, Heidfeld.