Posted in Qualification on Aug 26th, 2006 2 Comments »
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 »
Posted in Qualification on Jul 29th, 2006 No Comments »
Kimi Raikkonen showed a spirited comeback for the Mc Larens as he took pole for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix. The Mc Laren picked up the pace slowly in the session and did a magical 1m 14.070s lap of the circuit, almost two-tenths of a second faster than the nearest competitor.
Ferrari took 2nd and 3rd led by Michael who put the fastest lap of the entire qualification in the second session. Massa looked strong as well providing the German the required buffer to the Renaults. Button will lineup next to Massa in the second row, the Hondas impressed right through the session with very quick laps.
Fisichella and Barrichello form the 3rd row. Giancarlo was quicker than Fernando in every session of qualification probably indicating that the engine change between the Renaults might be quiet significant. Barrichello followed his team mates footsteps to take respectable 6th in qualification.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on Jul 16th, 2006 No Comments »
The questions of a french revenge for the World Cup were thrown out of the window as Ferraris dominated Qualification and kept the charged-up Renault’s at bay. Michael’s spirited performance in the three sections of qualification was justified as he took Pole. Massa proved the Ferrari’s return by sealing the second spot.
Alonso’s heroics gave him a decent 3rd spot in the starting grid after he and Michael went no holds barred at the start of the 3rd qualification session. The two produced the higest overtakings we hv seen in a very long time by passing each other once right after they had a mano-e-mano when the session turned green.
Toyota’s were inpressive in quali for the first time qualifing ahead of the Mc Larens and Fisichella who look like they are on a heavier fuel strategy.
The race will be really intersting, clearly the Ferrari’s are faster in the first section of the race track and the Renault in the second and third(Alonso setting faster sector times). This means that the scarlet cars are faster in the faster section and Renault’s aerodynamics kick in, in the remaining part of the lap. This difference will be minute compared to the effect of track temp and tyres.
The race in my opinion will be clearly be between Alonso and Michael, the start and positions after the first lap will be the important factor. If it turnes out like Indy it can easily be Massa, Alonso and Michael to the first corner.
My Predictions:
1. Alonso/ Michael
3. Massa
Qualification results
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on Jul 2nd, 2006 1 Comment »
Michael Schumacher produced the best laps seen at Indianpolis to take pole for tommorow’s United States Grand Prix. Massa produced a scorcher to slide himself into the front row and look to help Michael gain some ground over Fernando Alonso.
Renault have looked in compleat disarray so far this weekend as they were totally outclassed by the Scarlet cars. Fisichella was the fastest of the two Renaults right behind the Ferrari’s and Rubens Barrichello took 4th in the last lap of the race to get into the Ferrari-Renault mix. Alonso seemed to have chosen to play a stratergic race and had to be satisfied with 5th after recieving a scare in round 2 when he almost got eliminated.
Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button, Ralf Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld made up the top 10. The Mc Laren struggling produce a decent lap and Nick had to park his car a few mins into the 3rd session probably costing him 10 spots on the starting grid.
The race looks like a proper Ferrari comeback and I doubt unless there is a engine(or mechanical) faliure Michael will be stopable. Alonso will hv to fight his way to 2nd and I think he should not have anyproblems getting there(probably stopping one stop lesser than the Ferrari’s) Between Massa and Fisi I think the scarlet car must take this one.
My Predictions:
1. Michael Schumacher
2. Fernado Alonso
3. Fillipe Massa
Qualification Results
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on Jun 25th, 2006 No Comments »
Fernando Alonso produced the most impressive lap in the history of the Canadian Grand Prix to blow away his opponents en route to his fifth consecutive pole. The Spaniard’s performance in qualification was not short of “God Like” as nobody came to within 0.4s of his time.
Michael Schumacher’s World Championship received a clear dent as the German managed a modest fifth. The German looks heavy on his Ferrari and might try to pit one time lesser than the Renaults. Trulli will have frustrated the seven times World Champ by qualifying 0.018s ahead. Michael will be looking to overtake him to the first corner so that his strategy does not get effected.
Fisichella’s final lap was brilliant enough to get him ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The Mc Larens look finally up to pace but are still nowhere close to the pace of the Renaults as Fisi showed. Rosberg took the 6th place after suffering a scare in the first session which saw his teammate getting eliminated.
Montoya, Button, Barrichello and Massa form the tail of the top ten. Villeneuve disappointed his home fans by failing to make it the last segment of qualification after showing so much promise in the practice sessions. Heidfeld also dashed BMW hopes of a podium qualifying at 13th.
PREDICTIONS:
Few people will doubt a Renault 1-2 tommorow and I am one of them. The Renault’s will cross the line the way they start and will be followed by either Kimi or Michael(my bet is Michael). Alonso will dominate the race from the start just like he did in Spain and England. Fisi looks good and will be hard to beat in a car thats doing really well right now.
Qualification Results
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on Jun 10th, 2006 1 Comment »
Alonso blasted to Pole in the qualification for the 2006 British Grand Prix with an amazing 1m 20.253s lap. It was disappointment for British fans as Button managed only 19th after he was left without enough time to do a second lap thanks to a FIA weigh in. Webber was the other disappointment as he managed 17th, Rosberg managed a decent 12th as the Williams struggled.
Kimi woke up Mc Laren fans with a brilliant lap that split the top 2 drivers of the season. His last lap started bad with a possible mistake in the first sector costing him 3 tenths in that sector alone… he went on to post the fastest sector times in the next two sectors. He finished 0.15s off Alonso’s pace but that was good enough for P2.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on May 13th, 2006 No Comments »
Feeling : Anticipative Listening to : Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark Watching : F1 Qualifyings
The stands covered in a sea of Blue and Yellow with spots of red. The competetion between 11 teams, 22 drivers each trying their hardest to get to the only spot that matters to most, the Pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya located in Barcelona Spain.
The qualifying produced all that was expected and more. There were really only two contenders for the front two rows, Ferrari and Renault. Alonso driving at his home grand prix was absolutely magnificent keeping up all the expectations that is expected of him and giving all the fans something to cheer themselves hoarse about.
But Michael was the one who really impressed me. In the first two sessions of qualifying, Michael ran only three laps in total, but in those three laps, he treated all the other drivers with such disdain like they were running street cars. In both those sessions, he out-classed everyone else to come out on top.
Unfortunately in the 3rd, he could not produce a similar finish, maybe when it mattered the most. He could only finish 3rd fastest which I would guess be due to a slightly higher fuel load (although why it would be so is beyond me). Alonso produced a classic lap running extremely fast and clean to secure the pole position. He was followed by his team mate Fisichella. The ferraris will occupy the second row tomorrow when the red lights go out. Mclaren were a sore disappointment with my second favorite Kimi managing only a 9th place. I was also disappointed by my current rookie favorite, Nico Rosberg who will languish at 13th place.
The complete qualifying timings and another review of today’s qualifying, can be viewed in Haas’ review.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on May 13th, 2006 1 Comment »
Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella produced the special 2 laps Renault have been waiting for since the Malaysian Grand Prix to seal the front row ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. Michael and Massa will form the all scarlet second row.
The pace of the top 2 teams was such that the next best time was over 0.6s slower than the bunch. Barrichello put in a sterling performance on his Honda to take the 5th spot on the grid. Ralf and Trulli impressed in their Toyota beating the other major contenders Button and Raikkonen.
Kimi’s dismal 9th left a lot to be desired as Montoya(12th) could not make the cut in the second session. The Mc Laren looks in deep trouble this race as the track will be very difficult to overtake on. Kimi seems to hv a large fuel load but that will only be clear in the race.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on May 6th, 2006 No Comments »
Alonso was the hero at the Ring as he produced the only sub 1 min 30 sec lap to take his first pole of the season. Fisichella disappointed as he failed for the second time in a row to make the cut and to the 3rd session of qualification.
Michael was strong right throughout the session along with team mate Massa as they took places 2 and 3. Barrichello for the first time this season out qualified his teammate to p4 as Button had to settle for p6 right behind the Mc Laren of Kimi Raikkonen. Trulli, Villeneuve, Montoya and Webber makeup the remaining 4 places in the top 10.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Qualification on Apr 22nd, 2006 No Comments »
In what can be described only as probably the most dominant qualification this year saw the Ex-World Champ take the record breaking pole in Ferrari’s backyard. Michael’s lap of 1:22.795 was the fastest in the 3rd segment sealing the pole ahead of the pair of Button and Barrichello.
The first section of qualification saw Michael struggling thru traffic for a 8th postion performance and his determination was clear as he destroyed the times in the 2nd and 3rd parts of qualification. Alonso was the fastest in the first session but somehow looked like he lost the plot in the 2nd segment(or maybe there was traffic his lap was not clearly shown). He managed to qualify only 5th behind Massa who produced a brilliant effort only to be bettered by the Honda drivers.
Read Full Post »