BARCELONA // The world championship leader Jenson Button went out last in the qualifying session for today's Spanish Grand Prix but at the end of it he was first on the grid, setting a track record at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The record time served a ominous note for his rivals who are trying to stop the Brawn GP driver from running away with the title.
He stole pole yesterday from Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel after his quickest lap of 1min 20.527sec, broke Felipe Massa's old track record, set two years ago.
The last eight winners at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya - and 13 of the last 14 overall - have all started on pole, underlining how notoriously difficult it is to overtake on this track.
As well as being his third pole of the season it was Button's sixth of his Formula One career. "It's by far the best lap I've had this weekend," Button said. "All weekend this car has been tremendous through qualifying. I found it very difficult to sort of hang on to it on the low fuel, but I got the lap on the high fuel. I'm very happy, and this was a bit of a surprise in a way."
Pole was snatched in the dying moments ahead of Vettel, with Button's Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello third. Felipe Massa epitomised Ferrari's improvement this weekend as he will start from a season-high fourth, with Mark Webber in his Red Bull fifth.
Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton was well off the pace and he will start from 14th, the worst position of his F1 career in the dry.
"We did the best we could, but the laps weren't fantastic. We had hoped to be higher up," Hamilton said.
Kimi Raikkonen and Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen failed to make it into Q2.
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
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Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
Fight card
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK) v Rey Nacionales (PHI)
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROM) v Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR)
Catch 74kg
Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) v Omar Hussein (JOR)
Strawweight (Female)
Weronika Zygmunt (POL) v Seo Ye-dam (KOR)
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) v Walid Laidi (ALG)
Lightweight
Leandro Martins (BRA) v Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW)
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) v Sofiane Benchohra (ALG)
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR)
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Glen Ranillo (PHI)
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) v Aidan Aguilera (AUS)
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) Sasha Palatnikov (HKG)
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR)
Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
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