Saturday, March 22, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 7:02 AM
2008 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix: Qualifying
Felipe Massa took pole position for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix, ahead of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Jarno Trulli will line up alongside Robert Kubica on the second row of the grid after both McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton were sensationally handed 5 place grid penalties for impeding faster cars on their qualifying laps - they will start 8th and 9th respectively.
The worry going into qualifying was the weather - dark clouds were looming nearby, and rain had been predicted. Race control helpfully flashed that there was no rain predicted for the first 30 minutes of qualifying, then a few minutes later indicated that it would rain in 20 minutes. The Renault team were predicting rain within 7 minutes of the start of qualifying... The weather, therefore, was going to be unpredictable.
As a consequence, most drivers left the pits early to get their qualifying runs in before any rain hit. Q1 was quite busy at the beginning - 11 cars were out on track in the first minute. The track temperature was a nominal 47 degrees celcius at the beginning of the session (but would cool significantly to 35 degrees by the end of the hour), and times consistent with P3 were expected. However, a lot of the lower field runners seemed to struggle, possibly due to traffic. Jarno Trulli continued his good form this weekend to post the fastest time in Q1 (1:35.206), narrowly pipping Heikki Kovalainen. At the tail end of the field though, the six cars stuck in the basement were Fisichella, Nakajima (who will be sent to the back with a ten place penalty for his clash with Kubica in Melbourne), Bourdais, Sato, Sutil, and Davidson. Bourdais's elimination was a little disappointing, although he did lose a lot of track time (the entirety of P2) due to a gear box failure. More had also been expected from Nakajima.
No rain had materialized at this point, but the threat was still there. Consequently, in a presumed effort to get their qualifying laps in early, Kovalainen and Hamilton stacked themselves at the pit lane traffic light waiting for the session to start. Q2 turned out to be a hard fought battle, with several drivers trying both the harder Prime tyre and the softer Option tyre. Not least of those attempting both was Jenson Button, who had the benefit of Ross Brawn coaching him about his tyre choice. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be enough for either of the Hondas - Button was 11th and Barrichello was 14th. This was not really a surprise - Button had cautioned after his excellent practice times not to expect the same in qualifying - but the elimination of Nico Rosberg was a surprise. He could manage no better than 16th - last in Q2, almost 7 tenths off tenth place. This could possibly be attributed to hydraulic problems that he suffered in P3, which limited his running.
The fastest man in the session was Kimi Raikkonen, who set a stunning time of 1:34.188 (to confirm my prediction of a mid to low 1:34 fastest lap), which was about 2 and half tenths faster than his teammate Massa. Massa looked worried at one point - he was hovering in 5th place - as did Hamilton - who was hovering in 7th. Both drivers elected to do a second run on fresh Option tyres, and ended up 2nd and 3rd respectively.
So, after Q2 the people stuck in lobby were Button, Coulthard, Piquet, Barrichello, Vettel, and Rosberg.
As Q3 began, the rain had still not come. Again Kovalainen and Hamilton stacked at the end of the pit lane, along with both Ferraris. The threat of rain was clearly dictating strategy. At this point, the track temperature has cooled significantly, and the McLarens seemed to be struggling for grip and pace. This year's McLaren has been designed to be kinder on its tyres than the MP4/22 (which tended to shred its tyres), so it's possible with the cooler track temperatures that they couldn't get the heat they needed into the tyres.
Most, if not all, drivers elected to do two runs on their race fuel loads, and some (notably the McLarens) used both Prime and Option tyres. Invariably, though, it was the Ferraris who were fastest, even with the McLarens using the Option tyres at the end of the session. The faster of the McLaren drivers was Kovalainen - Hamilton seemed to be struggling, and on his last run started the lap behind one of the Toyotas (although he quickly overtook). In the event, the rain never came, and it was Massa who, as predicted, took pole - he had been fast all weekend, and had been particularly fast on the Prime tyres. He was comfortably ahead of his teammate in second place, who was ahead of the two McLarens of Kovalainen and Hamilton, followed by Trulli, Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber, Alonso, and Timo Glock. There was, however, an air of controversy. Most of the drivers had set their fast times with about a minute of time left in the session as they crossed the line. Rather than continue on hot laps, they elected to coast around the track at idling speeds to save fuel. However, there were a few drivers who were still attempting hot laps - notably Heidfeld and Alonso. Most of the slow drivers had pulled off the racing line, but the two McLarens remained on the racing line. Just before turn 4, Heidfeld and Alonso came upon the extremely slow cars, and had to take evasive action because there were cars on both sides of the track (both off and on the racing line). The closing speed of Heidfeld on the slow cars was tremendous - there could have easily been a major accident had he come upon the slower cars in, say, the fast turn 5/6 flick.
After qualifying, Nick Heidfeld voiced his concerns over the matter, and the Stewards took note, electing to drop both Kovalainen and Hamilton 5 grid positions for tomorrow's race. They will now line up 8th and 9th respectively. With their race fuel loads already set, it looks like it's going to be an uphill struggle for the McLarens in the race. And as a final side bar, just 5 minutes after the end of qualifying, a gentle rain began to fall. Rain is predicted for tomorrow. How much of a role it will play remains to be seen.
Qualifying Results
$ - 5 place grid penalty
# - 10 place grid penalty
The worry going into qualifying was the weather - dark clouds were looming nearby, and rain had been predicted. Race control helpfully flashed that there was no rain predicted for the first 30 minutes of qualifying, then a few minutes later indicated that it would rain in 20 minutes. The Renault team were predicting rain within 7 minutes of the start of qualifying... The weather, therefore, was going to be unpredictable.
As a consequence, most drivers left the pits early to get their qualifying runs in before any rain hit. Q1 was quite busy at the beginning - 11 cars were out on track in the first minute. The track temperature was a nominal 47 degrees celcius at the beginning of the session (but would cool significantly to 35 degrees by the end of the hour), and times consistent with P3 were expected. However, a lot of the lower field runners seemed to struggle, possibly due to traffic. Jarno Trulli continued his good form this weekend to post the fastest time in Q1 (1:35.206), narrowly pipping Heikki Kovalainen. At the tail end of the field though, the six cars stuck in the basement were Fisichella, Nakajima (who will be sent to the back with a ten place penalty for his clash with Kubica in Melbourne), Bourdais, Sato, Sutil, and Davidson. Bourdais's elimination was a little disappointing, although he did lose a lot of track time (the entirety of P2) due to a gear box failure. More had also been expected from Nakajima.
No rain had materialized at this point, but the threat was still there. Consequently, in a presumed effort to get their qualifying laps in early, Kovalainen and Hamilton stacked themselves at the pit lane traffic light waiting for the session to start. Q2 turned out to be a hard fought battle, with several drivers trying both the harder Prime tyre and the softer Option tyre. Not least of those attempting both was Jenson Button, who had the benefit of Ross Brawn coaching him about his tyre choice. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be enough for either of the Hondas - Button was 11th and Barrichello was 14th. This was not really a surprise - Button had cautioned after his excellent practice times not to expect the same in qualifying - but the elimination of Nico Rosberg was a surprise. He could manage no better than 16th - last in Q2, almost 7 tenths off tenth place. This could possibly be attributed to hydraulic problems that he suffered in P3, which limited his running.
The fastest man in the session was Kimi Raikkonen, who set a stunning time of 1:34.188 (to confirm my prediction of a mid to low 1:34 fastest lap), which was about 2 and half tenths faster than his teammate Massa. Massa looked worried at one point - he was hovering in 5th place - as did Hamilton - who was hovering in 7th. Both drivers elected to do a second run on fresh Option tyres, and ended up 2nd and 3rd respectively.
So, after Q2 the people stuck in lobby were Button, Coulthard, Piquet, Barrichello, Vettel, and Rosberg.
As Q3 began, the rain had still not come. Again Kovalainen and Hamilton stacked at the end of the pit lane, along with both Ferraris. The threat of rain was clearly dictating strategy. At this point, the track temperature has cooled significantly, and the McLarens seemed to be struggling for grip and pace. This year's McLaren has been designed to be kinder on its tyres than the MP4/22 (which tended to shred its tyres), so it's possible with the cooler track temperatures that they couldn't get the heat they needed into the tyres.
Most, if not all, drivers elected to do two runs on their race fuel loads, and some (notably the McLarens) used both Prime and Option tyres. Invariably, though, it was the Ferraris who were fastest, even with the McLarens using the Option tyres at the end of the session. The faster of the McLaren drivers was Kovalainen - Hamilton seemed to be struggling, and on his last run started the lap behind one of the Toyotas (although he quickly overtook). In the event, the rain never came, and it was Massa who, as predicted, took pole - he had been fast all weekend, and had been particularly fast on the Prime tyres. He was comfortably ahead of his teammate in second place, who was ahead of the two McLarens of Kovalainen and Hamilton, followed by Trulli, Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber, Alonso, and Timo Glock. There was, however, an air of controversy. Most of the drivers had set their fast times with about a minute of time left in the session as they crossed the line. Rather than continue on hot laps, they elected to coast around the track at idling speeds to save fuel. However, there were a few drivers who were still attempting hot laps - notably Heidfeld and Alonso. Most of the slow drivers had pulled off the racing line, but the two McLarens remained on the racing line. Just before turn 4, Heidfeld and Alonso came upon the extremely slow cars, and had to take evasive action because there were cars on both sides of the track (both off and on the racing line). The closing speed of Heidfeld on the slow cars was tremendous - there could have easily been a major accident had he come upon the slower cars in, say, the fast turn 5/6 flick.
After qualifying, Nick Heidfeld voiced his concerns over the matter, and the Stewards took note, electing to drop both Kovalainen and Hamilton 5 grid positions for tomorrow's race. They will now line up 8th and 9th respectively. With their race fuel loads already set, it looks like it's going to be an uphill struggle for the McLarens in the race. And as a final side bar, just 5 minutes after the end of qualifying, a gentle rain began to fall. Rain is predicted for tomorrow. How much of a role it will play remains to be seen.
Qualifying Results
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference |
| 1. | Trulli | 1:35.205 | 1. | Raikkonen | 1:34.188 | 1. | Massa | 1:35.748 | |||
| 2. | Kovalainen | 1:35.227 | + 0.022 | 2. | Massa | 1:34.412 | + 0.224 | 2. | Raikkonen | 1:36.230 | + 0.482 |
| 3. | Massa | 1:35.347 | + 0.142 | 3. | Hamilton | 1:34.627 | + 0.439 | 3. | Kovalainen$ | 1:36.613 | + 0.865 |
| 4. | Hamilton | 1:35.392 | + 0.187 | 4. | Heidfeld | 1:34.648 | + 0.460 | 4. | Hamilton$ | 1:36.709 | + 0.961 |
| 5. | Webber | 1:35.440 | + 0.235 | 5. | Kovalainen | 1:34.759 | + 0.571 | 5. | Trulli | 1:36.711 | + 0.963 |
| 6. | Raikkonen | 1:35.645 | + 0.440 | 6. | Kubica | 1:34.811 | + 0.623 | 6. | Kubica | 1:36.727 | + 0.979 |
| 7. | Heidfeld | 1:35.729 | + 0.524 | 7. | Trulli | 1:34.825 | + 0.637 | 7. | Heidfeld | 1:36.753 | + 1.005 |
| 8. | Kubica | 1:35.794 | + 0.589 | 8. | Webber | 1:34.967 | + 0.779 | 8. | Webber | 1:37.009 | + 1.261 |
| 9. | Rosberg | 1:35.843 | + 0.638 | 9. | Glock | 1:35.000 | + 0.812 | 9. | Alonso | 1:38.450 | + 2.702 |
| 10. | Button | 1:35.847 | + 0.642 | 10. | Alonso | 1:35.140 | + 0.952 | 10. | Glock | 1:39.656 | + 3.908 |
| 11. | Glock | 1:35.891 | + 0.686 | 11. | Button | 1:35.208 | + 1.020 | ||||
| 12. | Alonso | 1:35.983 | + 0.778 | 12. | Coulthard | 1:35.408 | + 1.220 | ||||
| 13. | Coulthard | 1:36.058 | + 0.853 | 13. | Piquet | 1:35.562 | + 1.374 | ||||
| 14. | Piquet | 1:36.074 | + 0.869 | 14. | Barrichello | 1:35.622 | + 1.434 | ||||
| 15. | Vettel | 1:36.111 | + 0.906 | 15. | Vettel | 1:35.648 | + 1.460 | ||||
| 16. | Barrichello | 1:36.198 | + 0.993 | 16. | Rosberg | 1:35.670 | + 1.482 | ||||
| 17. | Fisichella | 1:36.240 | + 1.035 | ||||||||
| 18. | Nakajima# | 1:36.388 | + 1.183 | ||||||||
| 19. | Bourdais | 1:36.677 | + 1.472 | ||||||||
| 20. | Sato | 1:37.087 | + 1.882 | ||||||||
| 21. | Sutil | 1:37.101 | + 1.896 | ||||||||
| 22. | Davidson | 1:37.481 | + 2.276 | ||||||||
$ - 5 place grid penalty
# - 10 place grid penalty
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix, Malaysia
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