Alonso Hails 'Special' Lap

The crowd, packing the Barcelona circuit, went mad when the Championship leader jumped onto the track, cheering him and blowing horns during the whole flying lap.

Despite the support, however, the Spaniard was unable to match the pace of Toyota's Jarno Trulli and had to settle for second place.

"It was something special for me, for sure," said Alonso after qualifying. "It was probably my best lap in a Formula One car so far. Tomorrow we will have another one and the race will be something similar.

"Today the grandstand was maybe 80 percent and you feel it, it is something amazing."

Renault's Alonso completed just two installation laps in this morning's first practice session, and only nine in the second. The Spaniard claimed the lack of running hindered him in qualifying.

"You always push at every corner but I knew I was down because I saw the big screens and I saw the orange colours, it was not green, but I was doing the maths," he said.

"At the end there was maybe some time but I did not run much this morning and it seemed in single lap qualifying with very few laps in practice is difficult to get the maximum from the car."