Formula 1 Jam

Warning: This post contains potential spoilers including Qualification results.

The season has now officially started, with the qualification for the first formula 1 race of the year, at the Albert Park, Melbourne also known as the Australian GP.

The qualification was as exciting as one thought it would be with some of the “back-markers” showing it to the front runners and other expected strong performers lagging. The biggest surprise was Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato who displayed some brilliant driving in a mid field Super Aguris (Yes, considering today’s performance, they are mid fielders and not back markers anymore) to come out in front of bigger names like Renault, Honda and even a Ferrari.

The first qualifying session started of normal with the usual back field cars coming out first to get some lap times on the board. Then came the big runners out on the field literally taking over the timing boards as the times started to tumble. The McLaren’s and Ferraris traded the top 3 positions with Nick Heidfeld coming in the top 6 ahead of Fisichella. The first provisional pole was taken by Kimi Raikkonen closely followed by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in their McLarens.

The drivers relegated in the first qualifying session were:
Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Scott Speed, David Coulthard, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Adrian Sutil, Christijan Albers

Felipe Massa did qualify in the first round but has been relegated to the 16th position likely due to an engine failure he suffered in the second qualifying lap in the second round. More news on that as information becomes available.

In the second round of the qualification, the biggest exit was Felipe Massa who suffered mechanical problems in his second hot lap and had to abandon it. Besides Massa, Heikki Kovalainen in a Renault and both the Williams Toyotas were out of the qualifying as well. Anthony Davidson who had put in a good time to get to the 6th place early in the session was out-qualified down to the 11th place with the 10th place being taken by his team mate, Takuma Sato.

In the final round, it was business as usual with the Ferraris and McLarens performing the strongest. The Toyota’s which were struggling through most of the qualifying managed to earn some respect back by qualifying in the top 10. Takuma Sato maintained his position from the previous round at number 10.
In between, Kimi Raikkonen blitzed the track by a single hot lap which blew the rest of the field away and took him to the pole position. Both Alonso and Hamilton tried to beat Kimi’s time but could only manage 2nd and 3rd position. In the dying moments of the session, Nick Heidfeld drove an inch perfect lap to split the two McLarens and get himself on the second row of the grid, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The final standings (According to Formula1.com):

Kimi Räikkönen 1:26.644
Fernando Alonso 1:26.697
Nick Heidfeld 1:26.895
Lewis Hamilton 1:26.674
Robert Kubica 1:26.696
Giancarlo Fisichella 1:27.270
Mark Webber 1:26.978
Jarno Trulli 1:27.014
Ralf Schumacher 1:27.328
Takuma Sato 1:27.365
Anthony Davidson 1:26.986
Nico Rosberg 1:27.596
Heikki Kovalainen 1:27.529
Jenson Button 1:27.540
Alexander Wurz 1:27.479
Felipe Massa 1:26.712
Rubens Barrichello 1:27.679
Scott Speed 1:28.305
David Coulthard 1:28.579
Vitantonio Liuzzi 1:29.267
Adrian Sutil 1:29.339
Christijan Albers 1:31.932