Formula 1 Jam

Mc Laren stamped its domination over the Monaco Grand Prix qualification by sealing first and second. Alonso sealed his first pole of the season in dramatic fashion after an impressive Lewis Hamlinton’s final attempt was disrupted by a slowing car.

The biggest incident of the evening was Kimi Raikonnen crashing out of Q2. The Finn brushed the wall at Rascasse and nearly caused a major shunt when Massa who was following him almost tagged him from behind. The contact damaged his steering and ended his qualification session.

The session resolved to less of a lottery after the rain seen in Saturday practice moved away. Q1 was run mostly on a green track and early in the session pole changed multiple hands until the top cars came out. Mc Laren and Ferrari stood out as the class of the field in a session which saw Albers, Sato, Ralf, Sutil, Speed and Davidson eliminated. Heartbreak for Super Aguri which looked very good in recent races.

Q2 had loads of drama, it started by the Kimi’s unfortunate incident and later a charged up Heikki was blocked by David Coulthard. Heikki who was fighting to make it the final session looked like he had almost managed it untill the Scot who was on a warmup lap refused to move over. David was later penalised by the stewards who demoted him to the bottom of Q2. The drivers who failed to make the final cut were Coulthard, Kimi, Heikki, Trulli, Liuzzi and Wurz.

Q3 saw the comeback of Renault of sorts. The World Champions finally looked like they were fighting with the best as Fisichella held third for almost the length of the session. Fisichella’s performance in the past few races has raised quiet a few eyebrows, the Italian was once again impressive here challenging the Ferrari of Massa. But it would be the Brazillian who would seal third ahead of the Italian. Followed closely by Rosberg and Webber. Heidfeld, Kubica, Barrichello and Button made up the rest of the top ten.

Honda finally look like they have got their act together but we need to see the fact that Button would have not made it to Q3 if not for Coulthard’s unfortunate demotion.

So everything looks set for an impressive Monaco Grand Prix. The rain and the jumbled grid has truly made this race a spectacle to be looked forward to.

Read Full Post »

It was a complete Scarlet and Silver fest today in the qualifying for the Spanish grand prix. The first two rounds in qualifying were dominated by the black and silver of McLaren. The third round was vastly different and one of the best qualification runs in recent years (more on this below)

The first round was pretty lackluster with both the Spyker Ferraris, the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher, the customer Toyota of Wurz and most disappointingly, Mark Webber being relegated to the absolute back of the grid.

The second round was much more interesting with the McLarens and Ferraris trading the provisional pole and Takuma Sato’s Super Aguri stalling in mid lap. Anthony Davidson had a scary moment when he spun his Super Aguri, barely missing the wall. Regrettably Nico Rosberg failed to make the cut for the final round of qualifying ending up at the eleventh position. Both the Hondas also finished their day in this round, failing to make it to the last qualifying round.

The final round was the most exciting round of not just the day but the past few seasons as well. Lewis Hamilton was the first to line up at the lights to get ahead of the others, just ahead of Kimi Raikonnen. Hamilton waited in the blistering sun for most than a minute, putting his engine to a significant risk of overheating. But it was worth it as he went out ahead of Kimi who tried his best to overtake Hamilton before the start of their flying laps. Hamilton drove defensively at low revs to try and cool his engines a little bit before he went all out.

Hamilton gained the first provisional pole, followed by Kimi. Both were soon beaten down as the speeds increased during the fuel burn phase. As the other drivers set their qualification times, with just 4 minutes to spare, both the Ferraris and McLarens came out again to go for the top positions, with Lewis again beating Kimi by an inch coming out ahead of the Ferrari. It must have frustrated Kimi a lot but he had the last laugh when he went faster than Hamilton. But both were beaten by the seemingly master of qualification, Felipe Massa followed by Alonso who just missed the pole position by three hundredths of a second.

The race now is set for another exciting start with Massa, Alonso, Kimi and Lewis in the lead and in that order. The renaults only managed to finish at the tail end of the top 10 separated by Coulthard.

Read Full Post »

This year so far Qualification has always been ruled by the Red cars, Bahrain apparently was not going to change this. Massa stormed to secure the pole position ahead of Lewis Hamlinton. The Brazilian was the fastest in each section of qualification, an amazing testament to Ferrari’s speed over a single lap.

Followed by the duo were their team mates Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. Both looked comparatively heavy to the top two an indication that this race might just be strategic fight at the Pit lane.

Read Full Post »

Ferrari and Mc Laren cleared all doubts on which teams are on the top of the pecking order by the ominous presence at Sepang. Massa stole pole from Alonso’s crutches seconds before Qualification could end. Kimi Raikonnen settled for a second row starting position with Lewis Hamlinton showing a well controlled performance to qualify 4th.

Earlier in the day everybody expected Ferrari to be unbeatable just weeks after their domination of the Australian Grand Prix, interestingly it was the Mc Laren of the two time world champ that set the pace. Alonso clocked the top of the times in Q1 and Q2, staying over four tenths of a second clear of anyone on track in Q2. Ferrari were right behind the Spaniard splitting the Mc Larens.

Read Full Post »

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

Read Full Post »

In what can be explained as a perfect start to the Formula One season, three drivers from three different teams took the top 3 qualification spots for the opening GP of the season. Everyone expected the Ferrari and Mc Laren to be competitive but possibly the most open season in ages threw up a few more surprises than expected…

Firstly Super Aguri’s amazing pace is simply shocking… Two thumbs up to a team which was last year unable to get past Q1, today saw its drivers qualify at 10th and 11th ahead of a Renault and a Ferrari(Massa could not set a time in Q2). BMW were quick as expected and split the Mc Larens with ease. Fisichella was impressive in the yellow Renault which almost seemed like a different team(not just by look) Heikki struggled with his Renault and was out in Q2.

Read Full Post »

Micheal Schumacher suffered a major blow to his final attempt at a World Championship as his Ferrari had more problems(what kind is still not certian). The problems forced the Seven time World Champ to retire to the pits right at the start of Q3. Michael had been in the top two in Q1 and Q2 with Massa. The Brazilian took the opportunity to flawlessly seal pole and looks the clear favourite to take 3rd in the World Championship.

Kimi and Trulli will seperate Massa from Alonso who just requires 1 point to be World Champion. The Spaniard was the fastest of the rest in the first two sessions begging the question if the Renault team have banked on a heavier fule load to help him fight the Ferraris in the race. Kimi was brilliant to lap without a mistake. He will be beside his future teammate on the front row. Trulli’s lap was one of surprise but in the conditions that clearly helped Bridgestone runners its a little surprise to see Toyota fighting on top.

The track temp started at 38deg and dropped to about 30deg by the end of the session. The higher it gets the better for the Bridgestone runners. If it gets between 15-25deg the advantage should swing towards the Michelin runners.

What is left to be seen is where Michael starts. If there is an engine change then he will start 20th and otherwise 10th. Can Michael pull out the impossible and win from the back of the grid or will Massa win his home race or will Kimi or Alonso win one for their team before they leave. All that will be answered tommorow.

Read Full Post »

Ferrari and Bridgestone could not have written a better script for the Japanese GP… With all the fears of a wet race blowing away their chances, come qualification Bridgestone proved that they know better than anyone else how to win at home. With the first 2 rows locked with Bridgestone runners and Toyota and Williams out performing Mc Laren, the race looks glum for the Michelin runners already.

Massa took pole in a warm saturday afternoon followed very closely by his team mate and World Championship contender Micheal Schumacher. Toyotas impressed in all parts of qualification and out paced the Renaults en route to row 2. Ralf will start on 3rd and Trulli on 4th.

Among the battle of the Michelin runners Renault were the class of the field. Alonso leading Fisichella into the third row. The Hondas were the other Michelin runners to give a little fight to their Bridgestone counterparts locking row 4.

This qualification session looks exactly the opposite of the Chinese GP where Michelin had a huge advantage. Renault will hope the result ends in their favour like it had done so a week ago in favour Ferrari. Another concern could be the rain… Bridgestone have a new wet weather tyre for the race and say they are so confident about it that they were hoping for a wet weekend! Advantage wrt wet conditions was never clear as only the first and (part of)second practice was in the wet and not many top runners set the times during this period. Michelin would none the less be doing a rain dance in the pits all day tmrw.

You can keep an eye on the weather here: http://weathernews.jp/livecam/cgi/livecam_disp.cgi?liveid=410001428

Predictions:
Dry Race:
1) Michael Schumacher
2) Massa
3) Fernando Alonso

I expect Ferraris to be untouchable in a dry race at Japan… If the Renaults manage to beat the Toyotas it will be a huge thing and Alonso is the man for the job.

Wet Race:
1) Fernado Alonso
2) Fisichella
3) Micheal Schumacher / Jenson Button

It will be hard for anyone to beat Alonso in the wet, twice already he has proved to be the most dominant racer in the wet this season and I dont see anyone challenging that even if Bridgestone performs well in the wet. Fisi and Jenson will depend heavily on Michelin outperforming Bridgestone in the wet to jump the Ferrari’s in the lead.

Again we have a weekend which is unpredictable… and that means we get to watch some cool racing.

Read Full Post »

No driver came close to Fernando Alonso as he stormed his way up to pole for tomorrows Chinese Grand Prix. The Renaults looked brilliantly setup and with Michelin’s wet weather tyres superb performance reminiscent of Hungary, were miles ahead of their Red competitors. The Renaults locked the front row in all 3 qualification stages implying quiet simply that Ferrari has the work to do for the rest of the weekend.

Michael’s performance was possibly the best of the 22 drivers. In a car which looked no where close to best in performance and on tyres that struggled all the way thru quali Michael’s greatness came thru as he delivered on prompt. He was in danger of elimination in Q2 and simply went out and banged a hot lap which took him from 14th to 9th. The rain master looked out of sync with the group but that was probably all Bridgestone’s mistake.

The other major hit of the weekend was Doornbos who out qualified all his colleagues(Red Bull and Torro Rosso) in his very first attempt showing that the Red Bull team made a great decision in banking on him. The wet track helped a little as it threw off a few surprises, Massa managed only 13th which automatically means that he will be in the back row thanks to the engine change on friday. The Toyotas struggled and managed only 17th and 18th with Webber and Rosberg qualifying just ahead of them.

Among the drivers 2 clearly stood out. Michael and Alonso, its amazing to watch how dedicated the top 2 drivers are as the fight goes to the finish. Michael was working overtime to get the best result possible and Alonso on the other end of the grid just put up faster sector after faster sector. Twice Alonso put a fastest sector just before pitting(knowing well that the lap wont count). He was on pole by a mile(over 1 sec to the next guy) and he just banged in another faster lap. If he continues this form in tomorrows race(and no bad luck) mathematically he could lap the entire field twice over(which is a tall prediction, I know).

Now to the Predictions. I have 2 sets for this race based on if its wet or not

Wet:
Alonso
Fisichella
Raikonnen/Button/their team mates (discounting accidents of course)

Dry:
Alonso
Michael/Fisichella (Ferrari is extremely competitive on the dry and it will be a close call but doubt Michael will catch Alonso either way)

Read Full Post »

Massa took pole for the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix after a brilliant lap that denied his team mate and the current World Champion top honours. The Ferraris and Renaults line up two by two making the first corner very intresting for tommorow’s race.

Micheal seemed to struggle in the final qualification session, he messed up both his runs costing him a clear pole position. Alonso looked confident that the Michellins work better in long runs and that would explain why Michael could not push harder with fule load and new tyres.

Fischella complained about problems in his engine towards the end of quali. The problems will not bother Alonso as Fisi currently is running a new revised engine and Alonso the same one from Hungary which did like only 3/4th the race distance.

Qualification Results.

Read Full Post »