Talking at the post-qualifying press conference it was quite clear that Michael Schumacher was not exactly broken-hearted not to be on pole position for today's race. Indeed, as Fernando Alonso, smiled and chatted away, promising his adoring fans a great race, the German looked very much like that cat who has had the cream, indeed, you could almost hear him purring.

As we prepare for round three of the Alonso-Schumacher show, the one thing we can be certain of is that there are other elements that will come into play during the course of the afternoon, namely shotgun riding teammates Massa and Fisichella, not to mention strategists Brawn and Symonds.

We make no apologies for concentrating on Renault and Ferrari merely because we do not believe, certainly based on the evidence to date, that anyone else is seriously capable of challenging here - after all, it's not as if we can even count on the weather to throw up a little uncertainty.

Behind the main protagonists, we can (hopefully) expect a decent battle between the McLarens, Toyota and Hondas for the remainder of the points, but make no mistake, today's race is all about two teams, and in particular, two drivers.

Special congratulations today to David Coulthard, who starts his two-hundredth Grand Prix, though unfortunately, following an off in qualifying, he starts from the back of the grid. It makes one feel quite old to think back to the Scot's F1 debut, just week's after the tragedy that robbed the sport of one of its finest competitors, Ayrton Senna.

There have been highs and lows, and Pitpass must admit to being one of DC's sternest critics, however, it's good to see him still racing, and still enjoying his racing, even if the 2006 Red Bull isn't a patch on the 2005 version. Well done David!

The Scot starts from the back of the grid, alongside Jacques Villeneuve, who has had two engine changes this weekend. The first change was necessitated following an accident 'in transit', which meant that the Canadian forfeited ten grid spots. After qualifying, BMW decided that it had nothing to lose, and consequently gave the former World Champion yet another powerplant.

Back to today's race and as is often the case, the outcome race could be decided in the first few hundred metres.

We all know that the Renaults are the best out there when it comes to fast getaways, though having master strategist Ross Brawn working with him will give Michael some comfort should the blue and yellow cars gain the initial advantage. Sadly, what we really have to watch for at the start of today's race is 'questionable' tactics from the four main protagonists, which could end up with one or more drivers being eliminated before the race is just a few seconds old. Let's hope for a clean, fair, start.

Don't expect much overtaking today. For not only does the design of the Barcelona track, and indeed the contemporary F1 car, make overtaking difficult, the fact that this is the most widely used test track means that every driver knows this circuit like the back of his hand, therefore its almost impossible to pull any surprises. Then again!

As the cars prepare top head off for the warm up lap, the air temperature is 28 degrees C, while the track temperature is 36 degrees. It's warm and sunny.

Around the track the partisan fans rise to greet their hero, 'Nano' leads the field around to the starting grid. Behind the Spaniard the 21 drivers take their grid slots.