Formula One news

Ferrari locks out French front row

Michael Schumacher stormed to pole position at Magny Cours and Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa completed a perfect afternoon for the Italian team to qualify second. Fernando Alonso had to make do with third place.

It was a hot afternoon in the middle of France and the heat must have got to Honda in the first knock-out session as Jenson Button could only set the nineteenth fastest time despite completing seven laps of the circuit. Team mate Barrichello was also set for a KO until the final seconds of the session when he scraped into fifteenth. Joining Button in the early bath were Liuzzi, Villeneuve, Monteiro, Montagny and Sato.

Michael Schumacher threw down the gauntlet in the second knock-out session going half a second faster than anyone else with a lap of 1m15.111s. Webber, Heidfeld, Klien, Barrichello, Speed and Albers all failed to make the pole position shoot out.

In the pole shoot out Schumacher and Alonso were dicing with each other to be front of the field. Alonso scampered out of the pit lane ahead of Schumacher only for the German to pass him at the Adelaide hairpin. Several laps later the Spaniard returned the favour as they ran around burning off fuel.

The championship contenders traded blows until the final moments when Michael Schumacher secured his 68th career pole position and in the dying moments of the session Massa went second 0.017s behind his team mate. Fernando Alonso's had to settle for third.

Toyota turned up the wick in the final moments of qualifying to get Trulli and Ralf Schumacher in fourth and fifth ahead of Raikkonen, Fisichella, de la Rosa, Rosberg and Coulthard. 

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