Formula One news

Ferrari front row at Suzuka

Felipe Massa took pole position at Suzuka for tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix and tema mate Michael Schumacher completed an all Ferrari front row. Fernando Alonso will start Sunday's race from fifth position.

In an exciting qualifying round there were a couple of surprises. The Bridgestone teams were having the upper hand at Suzuka today. They were clearly the strongest compound under the dry weather conditions. McLaren, Renault and Red Bull were a bit disappointing in today's qualifying round, while Toyota surprised in front of his home crowd qualifying in third and fourth.

In the first qualifying knock-out round it was after five minutes already that Sakon Yamamoto had to park his car on the side in front of his home crowd. The Super Aguri driver spun out.

Red Bull drivers David Coulthard and Robert Doornbos were unable to make it to the next round. Sato hoped to surprise the fans at his home track, but the Japanese driver was just like Monteiro and Speed unable to make it. 



In the second knock-out round Michael Schumacher was the fastest man on track. Biggest surprise was the McLaren team who failed to make it to the final qualifying round. Raikkonen ended in 11th, while De la Rosa qualified in 13th.

2nd pole for Massa

In the final round all eyes were on Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher. The duo, fighting for the 2006 championship, were doing everything they could to qualify themselves on pole position. But neither one of them were able to get it. It was Felipe Massa in the final seconds of qualifying that claimed pole position. Toyota drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli surprised the Japanese fans by qualifying in front of Fernando Alonso in third and fourth.

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