German Ralf Schumacher upstaged Fernando Alonso in front of his army of blue-shirted fans at the Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday morning when he topped the times in final practice for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. The Toyota driver, upholding the family name in a season when his brother Michael's defence of his world crown is under attack from the young Spaniard, clocked a best time of one minute and 14.280 seconds, the fastest of the weekend so far.
But it is not a significant time other than as an indicator for what may lie ahead when the cars, reduced to only 18 following the departure of the banned BAR-Honda team, take part in opening qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Ralf Schumacher was fastest ahead of Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the leading McLaren, his team-mate Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya, who had made a full recovery from his accident on Friday, and Australian Mark Webber who was fourth in a Williams.
Alonso, 23, who has inspired tens of thousands of Spaniards to discover Formula One and flock the remote circuit in the eastern industrial hinterland of Barcelona, wound up fifth fastest ahead of Italian Giancarlo Fisichella.
Fisichella was fastest during the first 45-minutes morning session with a time of one minute and 15.605 seconds, but the highlight of that opening period was the rare sighting of a major spin by seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher.
The defending title holder lost control of his Ferrari only briefly at turn five before regaining it and completing his lap. Dutchman Christijan Albers in a Minardi also spun off, but failed to recover and ended up stranded in a gravel trap.
In the second 45-minutes run on a dry and clean circuit under blue skies, with the temperature rising to 20 degrees Celsius, there were fewer incidents, but another spectacular one when Indian Narain Karthikeyan, in a Jordan, spun off at turn three.
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