It was another pole this afternoon in Spain for Scuderia Ferrari, the second of the season, this time from the cockpit of Kimi Raikkonen's F2008, with team-mate Felipe Massa set to start right behind him in third spot.

Another pole for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the second of the season, this time from the cockpit of Kimi Raikkonen's F2008, with team-mate Felipe Massa starting right behind him in third spot.

The final part of qualifying was a really thrilling battle with the eventual top four drivers all separated by the smallest of margins. Splitting the two F2008s was the Renault of Fernando Alonso, much to the delight of the Spanish race fans. The Renault man's lap was exciting to watch, although there is plenty of speculation as to how much, or how little fuel he had on board. After the first three races of the season, the F1 experts have been asking if the biggest threat to the Scuderia retaining its World Champion status come the end of this year, comes not from traditional opposition, McLaren-Mercedes but from the other German car manufacturer and current points leaders BMW-Sauber. Today, that would indeed seem to be the case as fourth on the grid alongside Felipe will be Robert Kubica, while Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen make it an all-McLaren third row.

Before the weekend, Raikkonen was asked if the fact he only managed a handful of laps in the dry during his day of testing at this Catalunya circuit last week would be a disadvantage this weekend. He said he did not think so. In fact, it is possible that the opposite is true, a phenomenon predicted by some of the Ferrari technical staff. Because track conditions here can change so much and so quickly, a driver who has spent a good amount of time driving here in testing will mentally expect to find the same conditions when returning a week later for the race. Being faced with a different set of challenges can be a psychological stumbling block, whereas, Kimi, with no preconceived idea of what to expect just got on with dealing with the conditions as he found them.

For tomorrow's race, both Ferrari drivers start on the clean side of the track. As to the outcome and strategy, it is just possible that we will see some drivers, even among those in the top ten on the grid, opting for three refuelling and tyre change stops; something we have not yet seen this season.

The return to Europe has not only meant a return to trucks and motorhomes for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. This race also marked the arrival of a new smart and modern design and décor for the team's reserved area in the exclusive Paddock Club above the pits. On Friday night a special dinner was held to officially open the new facility, attended by Team Principal Stefano Domenicali, World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and his team-mate, Felipe Massa. Also present was a group of around one hundred Spanish Ferrari owners and VIP guests. On the subject of VIPs, Michael Schumacher was attending his first race weekend of the season here in Barcelona and this afternoon, he staged a press conference in the Ferrari Media Hospitality unit to meet his old friends, or maybe adversaries from the media. This is the second pole position of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro; for the Finn, this was his fifteenth career pole, the second at this track, while the Scuderia's total now moves up to 197, 13 of which were obtained at this Grand Prix.

Stefano Domenicali: "Obviously we are pleased with the result of today's qualifying. We were expecting a very close fight and that's what we got, to the extent that the top five are all within less than three tenths of a second of one another. This also shows we are up against some very strong opponents and we will have to do everything perfectly if we want to get a good result. All the signs point to this but that's never enough: you also need reliability, a team and the drivers concentrating fully and a good strategy."

Kimi Raikkonen: "I've been chasing pole for a while now, but for one reason or another, it always escaped me. But today I got it. There is no better place to start so I will try and make the most of that tomorrow. It will be important to get off the line well, getting through the first corner without any problems. Then it will be down to exploiting the car's potential and that is definitely good. The race is what matters and tomorrow I want to bring home a nice result. So maybe it was not too bad doing so few laps in the dry in last week's test, as we were able to work on set-up with a different approach. On my first run in Q3, I lost a bit of grip in the final sector, but then on the second set of tyres everything went well. The perfect lap? You can always do better."

Felipe Massa: "I got a good lap with my first set of tyres in Q3, but that was not the case on my second, especially in the final sector of the track and that meant I could not improve on my time. When qualifying is as close as this it only takes the smallest of things to lose or gain a few places. I think we will be very competitive tomorrow, but we can expect a tough race. Anything can happen and we will have to give it our best shot to bring home the best result possible. We can count on a car that is good over a long run, which has been the case from last week's test up to and including yesterday."

Luca Baldisserri: "This was an incredibly close fight. Once again it demonstrated that you have to pay close attention to the smallest detail if you aspire to the top places, especially in qualifying. From what we have seen, for the race, we can run at a good pace over a distance and we will try and make the most of our grid positions. The crucial elements will be the same as ever: the start, the strategy, reliability and tyre performance. Our mood of cautious optimism from yesterday remains the same today."

Qualifying session

K. Raikkonen: 1st 1.21.813 6 laps chassis 270
F. Massa: 3rd 1.22.058 6 laps chassis 267
Weather: air temperature 27/28 °C, track temperature 39/41 °C, sunny.