Saturday, May 24, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 2:19 PM
Formula One Grand Prix de Monaco 2008: Qualifying
Felipe Massa took a somewhat unexpected pole position for the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix, after having publicly professed his dislike for the Monaco circuit earlier in the week. In a double blow to McLaren's hopes for kick starting their sagging title fortunes, Ferrari locked out the front row with Kimi Raikkonen taking second on the grid ahead of the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.
Qualifying started after rain earlier in the day, and the track was a little "green", although dry. Consequently the track was still a little slippery because some of the rubber that had been laid down had been washed away. As a consequence, several of the "usual suspects" went out in Q1 and did more laps than normal in an effort to set competitive times. One driver who put in a lot of laps was David Coulthard, who had struggled in the morning practice session, and had lost track time on Thursday with a technical issue. It was a tactic that paid off for Coulthard, who used the extra time to assess the balance of his car, and he comfortably moved through to Q2. Those who did not were Bourdais, Piquet (who continued to struggle this weekend), Vettel, Sutil, and Fisichella. The performance of the Force India cars was a little disappointing, and more probably could have been expected from Fisichella, who has usually gone well in Monaco.
There were a couple of surprises in Q2 - Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld struggled and would end up 11th and 13th respectively. Both drivers seemed to be struggling for grip. There were no surprises that the Hondas were elminated in Q2, but Kazuki Nakajima must be disappointed with 14th place, especially given the pace of his team mate. One driver who pulled out the stops to get into Q3 was Fernando Alonso, whose Q2 time was good enough for 9th, ahead of Coulthard. Coulthard, however, would end the session slowest by virtue of the fact that he lost control of his Red Bull machine under braking for the chicane on a hot lap, slamming into the barrier and wrecking his car at the end of the session, sending his right-rear wheel and tyre trundling down the road towards Tabac.
So it came down to Q3, and there was high expectation that Hamilton would take pole position. He was blisteringly quick in the first sector, but was losing time in the second sector. As it was, both Raikkonen and Massa had tidy laps and pipped him to the front row, but it was Massa who was the man of the moment. He seemed genuinely surprised by his own form, laughing in shock during the press conference, but really it's no surprise. Massa is on form at the moment, and he stands a very good chance of taking victory. The one thing that remains to be seen is what the race strategies will be.
Qualifying started after rain earlier in the day, and the track was a little "green", although dry. Consequently the track was still a little slippery because some of the rubber that had been laid down had been washed away. As a consequence, several of the "usual suspects" went out in Q1 and did more laps than normal in an effort to set competitive times. One driver who put in a lot of laps was David Coulthard, who had struggled in the morning practice session, and had lost track time on Thursday with a technical issue. It was a tactic that paid off for Coulthard, who used the extra time to assess the balance of his car, and he comfortably moved through to Q2. Those who did not were Bourdais, Piquet (who continued to struggle this weekend), Vettel, Sutil, and Fisichella. The performance of the Force India cars was a little disappointing, and more probably could have been expected from Fisichella, who has usually gone well in Monaco.
There were a couple of surprises in Q2 - Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld struggled and would end up 11th and 13th respectively. Both drivers seemed to be struggling for grip. There were no surprises that the Hondas were elminated in Q2, but Kazuki Nakajima must be disappointed with 14th place, especially given the pace of his team mate. One driver who pulled out the stops to get into Q3 was Fernando Alonso, whose Q2 time was good enough for 9th, ahead of Coulthard. Coulthard, however, would end the session slowest by virtue of the fact that he lost control of his Red Bull machine under braking for the chicane on a hot lap, slamming into the barrier and wrecking his car at the end of the session, sending his right-rear wheel and tyre trundling down the road towards Tabac.
So it came down to Q3, and there was high expectation that Hamilton would take pole position. He was blisteringly quick in the first sector, but was losing time in the second sector. As it was, both Raikkonen and Massa had tidy laps and pipped him to the front row, but it was Massa who was the man of the moment. He seemed genuinely surprised by his own form, laughing in shock during the press conference, but really it's no surprise. Massa is on form at the moment, and he stands a very good chance of taking victory. The one thing that remains to be seen is what the race strategies will be.
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos | Driver | Time | Difference |
| 1. | Massa | 1:15.190 | 1. | Massa | 1:15.110 | 1. | Massa | 1:15.787 | |||
| 2. | Kovalainen | 1:15.295 | + 0.105 | 2. | Rosberg | 1:15.287 | + 0.097 | 2. | Raikkonen | 1:15.815 | + 0.625 |
| 3. | Hamilton | 1:15.582 | + 0.392 | 3. | Hamilton | 1:15.322 | + 0.132 | 3. | Hamilton | 1:15.839 | + 0.649 |
| 4. | Raikkonen | 1:15.717 | + 0.527 | 4. | Kovalainen | 1:15.389 | + 0.199 | 4. | Kovalainen | 1:16.165 | + 0.975 |
| 5. | Rosberg | 1:15.935 | + 0.745 | 5. | Raikkonen | 1:15.404 | + 0.214 | 5. | Kubica | 1:16.171 | + 0.981 |
| 6. | Kubica | 1:15.977 | + 0.787 | 6. | Kubica | 1:15.483 | + 0.293 | 6. | Rosberg | 1:16.548 | + 1.358 |
| 7. | Webber | 1:16.074 | + 0.884 | 7. | Trulli | 1:15.598 | + 0.408 | 7. | Alonso | 1:16.852 | + 1.662 |
| 8. | Coulthard | 1:16.086 | + 0.896 | 8. | Webber | 1:15.745 | + 0.555 | 8. | Trulli | 1:17.203 | + 2.013 |
| 9. | Barrichello | 1:16.208 | + 1.018 | 9. | Alonso | 1:15.827 | + 0.637 | 9. | Webber | 1:17.343 | + 2.153 |
| 10. | Button | 1:16.259 | + 1.069 | 10. | Coulthard | 1:15.839 | + 0.649 | 10. | Coulthard | no time | |
| 11. | Glock | 1:16.285 | + 1.095 | 11. | Glock | 1:15.907 | + 0.717 | ||||
| 12. | Trulli | 1:16.306 | + 1.116 | 12. | Button | 1:16.101 | + 0.911 | ||||
| 13. | Alonso | 1:16.646 | + 1.456 | 13. | Heidfeld | 1:16.455 | + 1.265 | ||||
| 14. | Heidfeld | 1:16.650 | + 1.460 | 14. | Nakajima | 1:16.479 | + 1.289 | ||||
| 15. | Nakajima | 1:16.756 | + 1.566 | 15. | Barrichello | 1:16.537 | + 1.347 | ||||
| 16. | Bourdais | 1:16.806 | + 1.616 | ||||||||
| 17. | Piquet | 1:16.933 | + 1.743 | ||||||||
| 18. | Vettel | 1:16.955 | + 1.765 | ||||||||
| 19. | Sutil | 1:17.225 | + 2.035 | ||||||||
| 20. | Fisichella | 1:17.823 | + 2.633 | ||||||||
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix, Monaco
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