For all the ambition of making it through the first stage of qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix, neither Force India car proved fast enough to escape the 'drop zone' when the chequer came down.
Indeed, neither
Giancarlo Fisichella nor
Adrian Sutil were a part of the rollercoaster ride that characterised the final few minutes of the session, as the VJM01 proved unable to lift them into the top 16 like those around them. While some rose and fell, the pair remained mired in 19th and 20th, ahead only of the under-developed Super Aguris.
While there was frustration at
Force India, however, there was surprise further up the pit-lane as both
Red Bull and Toro Rosso lost a pilot in the first phase. Both
David Coulthard and
Sebastian Vettel managed to haul themselves out of the drop zone as the order tumbled in the final moments, but neither did enough to get clear of the vortex that sucked them back in as others improved.
Just escaping the clutches of the bottom six,
Jenson Button propped up those making the cut, with early pacesetter
Kazuki Nakajima one place ahead of him.
Kimi Raikkonen stayed out on track long after securing his place in Q2 and was rewarded by posting the best time of the session, some four-tenths of another late improver,
Jarno Trulli.
Fernando Alonso also moved up the order late on, slipping into third ahead of former team-mate
Lewis Hamilton, who held sway through the mid-point.
Nelson Piquet Jr completed the top five.
