Who is the most likely winner at the Barcelona circuit? Who has celebrated their hundredth race there? And what happened fifteen years ago this weekend? Marcel Schot brings the answers and more anecdotes on the Spanish Grand Prix

The Saturday in Imola was one of firsts. The first pole position for Jenson Button and BAR, as well as the first pole for Honda since Ayrton Senna achieved his last pole for McLaren-Honda in the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix. The first pole for BAR meant the first pole position for a new team since the 1999 French Grand Prix, when Rubens Barrichello won the wet qualifying lottery. Button's pole position was the first one by a British driver since David Coulthard qualified fastest in the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix, no less than 47 Grands Prix ago.

In the race Michael Schumacher continued his domination to claim his fourth consecutive victory. A win in Spain will bring the German on equal foot to Nigel Mansell's five wins from the start of the season in 1992. Looking at the past results, it appears to be just another formality for the Ferrari driver. He won the last three races in Spain, and it would likely have been four if several problems hadn't thrown him back to fifth in 2000. At the first pit stop the lollipop man lifted the sign too soon, causing Schumacher to drive into one of his mechanics. With six pole positions, five wins and ten podium finishes for Schumacher in Barcelona any bet against him appears to be thrown away money.

A driver who will be watched closely in the upcoming Grand Prix is Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard had a successful home Grand Prix last year, when he finished second in the race from third on the grid. Even though Renault is perhaps less visible than it was last season, the team's performance is rock solid. Only Renault and Ferrari have had both drivers in the points in all races this season.

Two of a kind

Three drivers have celebrated their 100th race start in a Spanish Grand Prix. While it ended before completing a lap for Jarno Trulli last year, Jacques Laffite in 1981 and Keke Rosberg in 1986 gave their celebration a brighter edge.

Laffite made his Formula One debut with Frank Williams' Iso Marlboro team halfway through 1974. For 1975 the Frenchman stayed with Frank Williams, while the team name changed to Williams. The next season Laffite moved to Ligier, where he still drove by the time of the 1981 Spanish Grand Prix. After having celebrated quite a few successes in his first four years with the French team, the 1981 season was quite a downfall. While Laffite was used to qualifying on the third or fourth row of the grid, he had to settle for a place outside the top ten for the first three races of 1981. However, as the season progressed so did Ligier, and slowly the blue cars started to move up the grid. Qualifying just inside the top ten, the second place in Belgium and third place in Monaco showed great progress.

In qualifying in Spain everything suddenly worked. Laffite grabbed his first pole position since his home Grand Prix the previous season. Unfortunately for the Ligier driver, his pole position went to waste when he was forced to keep his foot on the brake rather than above the throttle during the start. A dragging clutch meant that he had no other option to keep the car from rolling off the grid. In a sport where hundreds of a second are critical, this cost Laffite many places at the start. So when the field came around after the first lap, the Ligier was in eleventh place.

While he battled his way back to the front, Alan Jones grabbed a clean lead in the Williams as the rest of the field was held up behind Gilles Villeneuve in the undrivable Ferrari. This was good news for Laffite, as he was able to catch up with the drivers at the front easier than expected. When Alan Jones lost the lead in an off track excursion on lap 14, Laffite was already in seventh and on the tail of John Watson. Several laps later Nelson Piquet made an error of judgment that sent him momentarily into the dust, allowing Laffite to move up into fifth when Piquet took Andretti with him off the track.

Fifth became fourth when Alain Prost, on his way to the leading duo of Gilles Villeneuve and Carlos Reutemann, spun off the track. Laffite and Watson gradually moved closer to the leaders and after 50 laps the Ligier driver finally saw enough room to move past Watson into third. Ten laps later they were on the tail of the leaders, after which a miraculous spectacle unfolded. The tyres of Villeneuve's Ferrari were as good as gone, but through his speed the Canadian was able to fend off all attacks. Elio de Angelis also joined the queue a few laps later, giving the audience a 15 lap show of five cars going around the circuit with barely room between them. While Laffite did pass Reutemann, Villeneuve did too good a job to give the Frenchman a win to celebrate his 100th race. When the flag dropped, Laffite was second, a mere two tenths of a second behind the Ferrari. The whole string of five cars crossed the finish line in less than 1.5 seconds.

For Keke Rosberg, his 100th race wasn't quite as eventful. The Finn had driven for several low key teams early in his career. After a start at Theodore, he moved to ATS, Wolf and then Fittipaldi before landing a seat at Williams in 1982, where he promptly won the World Championship. After a long period at Williams, the Finn moved to McLaren for the 1986 season, where he replaced the retired Niki Lauda. The first race of the season ended in an early retirement, so when the circus came to Spain for the second race and Rosberg's 100th, the Finn was focused on reaching the finish.

In qualifying the trend for the rest of the season was already visible. There were four drivers who were by default faster than Rosberg: qualifying miracle Ayrton Senna in the Lotus, both Williams's, and Rosberg's teammate and reigning World Champion Alain Prost. Behind Rosberg there was a gap of over a second to the rest of the field.

When the race got underway, Rosberg quickly made his way past Prost and a lap later also passed Nigel Mansell, moving into third behind Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet. However, the field remained very close. After 19 laps, the charging Mansell moved back into third as problems started for Rosberg. The fuel regulations had changed, putting strict limits on the amount of fuel that could be used. This went totally against Rosberg's driving style and even though it was relatively early in the race, the Finn had to leave the battle for the podium places in order to finish at all. In the end he claimed fourth place when Piquet retired in front of him. Despite not being able to battle for the win, this was the maximum result available to Rosberg, giving him some reason to celebrate his 100th race as well.

This week in history

15 years ago the Monaco Grand Prix was a race of first and last for Stefano Modena and Brabham. For the driver the race was his first podium finish, while for the team it was their last.

By 1989 the Brabham team was a mere shade of the team that was a force in Formula One in the sixties, seventies and early eighties. After Bernie Ecclestone had withdrawn the team at the end of 1987 it made a return to Formula One after a year's absence, now with the Swiss financer Joachim Luthi running it. The year out of Formula One meant the team was forced to take part in pre-qualifying, early on Friday morning. In the first two races this was merely a formality. The Sergio Rinland designed Brabham BT58 was much better than the cars it had to compete with at that stage, resulting in clear one-twos for Martin Brundle and Stefano Modena in the first two pre-qualifying sessions.

In Monaco the differences from the competition on Thursday morning weren't as big as in Brazil and San Marino, but while Brundle finished fourth, Modena was still the fastest driver in the session. Qualifying in the afternoon showed hopeful results for Modena. When the session ended, the Italian was in twelfth position, only four tenths behind Williams driver Riccardo Patrese. However, the real surprise came on Saturday when both Brabhams excelled in the final qualifying session. Martin Brundle was fourth and Stefano Modena eight, which was the first time both Brabham cars qualified in the top eight since Mexico 1986. For both drivers it was the best qualifying result of their careers and thus it was a happy evening for the Brabham boys.

Before the race started Modena moved up a spot when Patrese failed to start his Williams and was forced to start from the back of the grid. Another place was gained just as the cars got underway, when Derek Warwick's Arrows remained stationary on the grid with faulty electronics. At the second start Modena dropped to seventh when Andrea de Cesaris rocketed past him. The next lap, Minardi driver Pierluigi Martini retired behind Modena, giving the Italian a bit of breathing room as it was now Gabrielle Tarquini 3.5 seconds behind him. De Cesaris was driving away in front of him, but Tarquini wasn't gaining, putting Modena in an early void that allowed him to keep his pace without having to worry much about fighting.

As the race progressed the gap towards de Cesaris remained at a similar level, while the gap behind Modena gradually got larger. After 17 laps number three Thierry Boutsen suffered a puncture and was forced to visit the pits, which moved Modena up to sixth place. Meanwhile, number seven Gabrielle Tarquini was 15 seconds behind Modena. The Italian kept concentration despite not having to fight, and when Nigel Mansell retired with a gearbox problem after 30 laps the Brabham driver won another place.

After 34 laps the Brabham driver found himself in fourth place when Andrea de Cesaris collided with back marker Nelson Piquet. The next driver to fall back from in front of Modena was his teammate Martin Brundle, who had to pit when his battery died after 48 laps. By now only leader Ayrton Senna, McLaren teammate Alain Prost and Stefano Modena were on the lead lap.

Behind Modena the gap had built up to a minute and thus the Italian was able to finish the race without worrying, scoring his first podium finish. In the end it also proved to be Brabham's last podium finish. As the season progressed, reliability became an issue more and more and when Joachim Luthi was arrested, the team changed hands yet again, gliding further down until it folded during the 1992 season.

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