There will be plenty of traffic heading for the Circuit de Catalunya this morning as the crowds arrive for the Spanish Grand Prix, the sixth round of this year's championship. In the past, this event was poorly attended, the Spanish people apparently preferring their motorsport on two wheels. But all that has changed with the arrival of Fernando Alonso and his crowning as world champion last year. The fans here treat the race almost like a football game, cheering every time their man appears and standing up in their seats. Today, there will probably be even more of them as, at the end of a very tight and exciting session, their hero came away with pole position, his second of the season. Alongside him is his Italian team-mate, Giancarlo Fisichella. Row two is an all-red affair, with the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro duo lining up behind their closest rivals in the title fights. Michael Schumacher just beat Felipe Massa in the final moments of the qualifying session yesterday to take third place, which gives him the added advantage of starting on the clean side of the track.

Just as at the Nürburgring a week ago, with these two teams so closely matched, the final outcome of the race could come down to who produces the best strategy in terms of when to make pit stops. Tyre performance will also be crucial and the Scuderia is anticipating good race long pace from its Bridgestones. Rubens Barrichello continues his return to good qualifying form, fifth in the Honda, while Ralf Schumacher completes the top six for Toyota. Right at the back of the grid is David Coulthard when a technical problem on his Red Bull car saw him spin off into the barriers without posting a time: a shame for the Scotsman as this will be his 200th Grand Prix.

Jean Todt: "Once again, we witnessed a very close qualifying session today. Tomorrow, we will have an all-red second row, with the two cars of our main rival ahead of us. Both our drivers did well. Tomorrow, reliability and tyre performance and Bridgestone has made a great job of that for this race. Given that overtaking is very difficult, it's clear that strategy will play a key role in deciding the outcome and tomorrow we will find out who got it right."
 

Michael Schumacher: "I am quite happy with third place on the grid, as we knew we might have to lose a bit in qualifying, because we based our decision about tyres more on how they would perform in the race. So, the second row is not a big problem as we know we can expect a strong race pace. Unlike at the Nürburgring, this time, I start from the clean side of the grid. As for race strategy, there are two possibilities and now we will have to make sure we pick the best one."

Felipe Massa: "It was a good qualifying. A start from the front two rows is vital and we managed to reach this target. On my final run in Q3, I came up against a bit of traffic in the final sector, but I'm happy with the way things went. I am very confident about the race in that we know we can count on getting very consistent performance from the Bridgestone tyres."

Ross Brawn: "It was a very exciting session which kept our drivers and engineers busy right to the end. I think both Michael and Felipe did an excellent job. Obviously, you always hope to be as far forward as possible on the grid, but the cars are very good and it looks as though the Bridgestone tyres should give a strong performance over a long distance. There is good reason to be optimistic about tomorrow's race."

Qualifying session: Q1: MS 3rd 1.16.049 5 laps FM 11th 1.16.359 4 laps; Q2: MS 1st 1.14.637 3 laps FM 7th 1.15.245 3 laps; Q3: MS 3rd 1.14.970 16 laps FM 4th 1.15.442 15 laps; Chassis: MS 254, FM 250; Temperatures: air 24/26 °C track 34/37 °C