Silverstone, 10th June 2006

The unusually hot weather continues here in England and so a large crowd turned up early at the track today, early because free practice began at 9.30 and qualifying started at midday instead of 2 o'clock. The reason for this is clearly the fact that England was having its first game in the World Cup. The home team beat the South Americans 1-0 and the crowd at the circuit was able to watch the match on the big screens around the track.

As for the action on the track, qualifying was once again a very closely contested session. In the final twenty minutes where just the top ten runners fight it out for the best places on the grid, Michael Schumacher was actually provisionally on pole position until the closing moments when first Fernando Alonso took pole for Renault and then Kimi Raikkonen went second in his McLaren-Mercedes to drop the German driver down to third place on the second row. His Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team mate, Felipe Massa will line up alongside him tomorrow afternoon, having posted the fourth best time this afternoon. Row 3 sees the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella in fifth place, just ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the Honda. Much to the disappointment of the home crowd, the Brazilian's team-mate Jenson Button did not have a good day and will start from 19th spot. The Englishman was not the only front runner to suffer here, as Mark Webber is 17th for Williams and Jarno Trulli is last for Toyota.

Overtaking is possible but difficult at this high-speed track, so a lot will depend on the various strategies adopted by the different teams in terms of how much fuel they currently have on board and when they plan to make their first pit stops.