Alonso leads Renault front row in Spain
World Champion Fernando Alonso drove an enthusiastic Spanish crowd into a frenzy on Saturday by taking pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix
Alonso set a time of 1:14.648 to beat his Italian teammate Giancarlo Fisichella by five hundredths of a second as Renault claimed the front two positions on the grid.
Alonso hit the front with less than five minutes remaining in the top-ten 'shoot-out' - prompting a huge roar from the massed Spanish crowd that packed the grandstand beside the start-finish straight.
He then went faster still in the dying seconds of the session.
Michael Schumacher, looking to score his third consecutive win, qualified third - alongside his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa.
Rubens Barrichello continued his up-turn in form by qualifying fifth for Honda while Ralf Schumacher was sixth for Toyota.
Williams' Mark Webber was agonisingly just four hundredths of a second away from making the cut-off point for the top-ten 'shoot-out' and will start 11th.
McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya was another surprise name to miss the cut in his McLaren - one place further back.
Williams' Nico Rosberg, BMW Sauber's Jacques Villeneuve, Red Bull's Christian Klien and Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi also missed the mark.
The opening 15-minute session was delayed by a red flag when David Coulthard crashed his Red Bull heavily into the barriers at turn three - ensuring that he will start his 200th Grand Prix from the back of the grid.
Also eliminated from the running at that stage were Toro Rosso's Scott Speed, the Midlands of Tiago Monteiro and his Dutch teammate Christijan Albers, and the Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny.
| Spain qualifying breakdown | Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | |||||||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Pos | Time | Lap | Pos | Time | Lap | Pos | Time | Lap | |
| 1. | Alonso | Renault | M | 1. | 1:15.816 | 3 | 4. | 1:15.124 | 3 | 1. | 1:14.648 | 16 |
| 2. | Fisichella | Renault | M | 2. | 1:16.046 | 3 | 2. | 1:14.766 | 6 | 2. | 1:14.709 | 16 |
| 3. | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | B | 3. | 1:16.049 | 5 | 1. | 1:14.637 | 3 | 3. | 1:14.970 | 16 |
| 4. | Massa | Ferrari | B | 11. | 1:16.359 | 4 | 7. | 1:15.245 | 3 | 4. | 1:15.442 | 15 |
| 5. | Barrichello | Honda | M | 9. | 1:16.266 | 5 | 8. | 1:15.258 | 3 | 5. | 1:15.885 | 15 |
| 6. | R.Schumacher | Toyota | B | 8. | 1:16.234 | 6 | 6. | 1:15.164 | 6 | 6. | 1:15.885 | 16 |
| 7. | Trulli | Toyota | B | 6. | 1:16.174 | 6 | 3. | 1:15.068 | 6 | 7. | 1:15.976 | 16 |
| 8. | Button | Honda | M | 4. | 1:16.054 | 5 | 5. | 1:15.150 | 3 | 8. | 1:16.008 | 16 |
| 9. | Raikkonen | McLaren | M | 12. | 1:16.613 | 3 | 9. | 1:15.422 | 3 | 9. | 1:16.015 | 16 |
| 10. | Heidfeld | BMW | M | 10. | 1:16.322 | 3 | 10. | 1:15.468 | 6 | 10. | 1:17.144 | 16 |
| 11. | Webber | Williams | B | 14. | 1:16.685 | 3 | 11. | 1:15.502 | 6 | |||
| 12. | Montoya | McLaren | M | 7. | 1:16.195 | 4 | 12. | 1:15.801 | 7 | |||
| 13. | Rosberg | Williams | B | 16. | 1:17.213 | 3 | 13. | 1:15.804 | 6 | |||
| 14. | Villeneuve * | BMW | M | 5. | 1:16.066 | 3 | 14. | 1:15.847 | 6 | |||
| 15. | Klien | Red Bull | M | 13. | 1:16.627 | 6 | 15. | 1:15.928 | 6 | |||
| 16. | Liuzzi | Toro Rosso | M | 15. | 1:17.105 | 7 | 16. | 1:16.661 | 7 | |||
| 17. | Speed | Toro Rosso | M | 17. | 1:17.361 | 8 | ||||||
| 18. | Monteiro | Midland | B | 18. | 1:17.702 | 6 | ||||||
| 19. | Albers | Midland | B | 19. | 1:18.024 | 7 | ||||||
| 20. | Sato | Super Aguri | B | 20. | 1:18.920 | 6 | ||||||
| 21. | Montagny | Super Aguri | B | 21. | 1:20.763 | 6 | ||||||
| 22. | Coulthard | Red Bull | M | 22. | No time | 2 | ||||||
* Will incur a penalty for engine change
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