Jenson Button recorded his finest pole position with an impressive final lap in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The championship leader had appeared to be struggling to match his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello in terms of outright pace for most of the weekend, but come Q3, Button was able to recover with a dramatic last-gasp lap that netted the Briton his third pole position this season.
With only a few seconds to spare, Button crossed the start/finish line to begin his last lap just as the chequered flag fell, and proceeded to snatch top spot away from Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel by 0.133 seconds.
As for Barrichello, the Brazilian initially held provisional pole before his Brawn GP team-mate and Red Bull rival improved, leaving him in third.
Thanks to the new aero updates on the Ferrari in particular the double diffuser, Felipe Massa was able to demonstrate better form with a fine fourth place. Massa even set the fastest time in the final practice session leading up to qualifying.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said to his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had a disastrous session no thanks to a poor first lap in Q1, which was 0.8 seconds slower than his team-mate.
To witness the Scuderia making the same mistake again by not opting for a second run to improve lap times, in a bid to save tyres for the race, Kimi and Ferrari suffered the consequence of being knocked out as others improved… The ‘Iceman’ will start Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix down in a disappointing P16.
Fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen also got caught out in Q1 complaining of a lack of balance in the McLaren. Heikki will start the race in a frustrating P18.
As for his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the world champion was unable to maintain that good performance in Bahrain and will line up P14 on the grid. The new aero kit didn’t improve the speed in the MP4-24.
Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber will start fifth ahead of the Toyota pair of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli – sixth and seventh respectively.
Home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso could only manage eighth for Renault with Friday’s pace-setter Nico Rosberg ninth for Williams and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica.
Nelson Piquet Jr had his best qualifying performance of the season and was on course for a top ten start until the final seconds of Q2, when other drivers’ improvements edged the Renault driver back down to P12, in-between the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber.
Formula One rookie Sebastian Buemi again outperformed his Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastian Bourdais as they took P15 and P17 on the grid, while the Force Indias remained on the back row, Adrian Sutil half a second quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella this time round.
Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix could be fascinating. Not only will Jenson Button be seeking for another victory to extend his championship lead. But hopefully the new 2009-spec rules will make the race more interesting in terms of offering the chance for overtaking on this difficult circuit. The possibility of light rain might play into the hands of Sebastian Vettel or even wet-weather specialist Rubens Barrichello. Let’s find out on race day whether Button can continue the Brawn supremacy in Formula One.
Qualifying times from the Circuit de Catalunya:
1. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:20.527
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:20.660
3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:20.762
4. Massa Ferrari 1:20.934
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.049
6. Glock Toyota 1:21.247
7. Trulli Toyota 1:21.254
8. Alonso Renault 1:21.392
9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:22.558
10. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:22.685
11. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:20.531
12. Piquet Renault 1:20.604
13. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:20.676
14. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.805
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.067
16. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:21.291
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.300
18. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.675
19. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:21.742
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:22.204