Qualifying: Title rivals take the front row

Saturday 6th September 2008

Title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa will line-up on the front row of the grid for Sunday's Belgian GP.

Hamilton grabbed the coveted pole position with an impressive 1:47.338 to edge Massa by 0.340s as the duo slugged it out for their starting positions for their latest bout in the Championship fight.

Their team-mates Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen found themselves in a back-up role after qualifying third and fourth ahead of the under-pressure Nick Heidfeld.

Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Robert Kubica complete the top eight for the Spa grid.

Qualifying Report
Though the morning practice session had been rain-interrupted, there were hopes that qualifying would escape a sudden Ardennes downpour. Even so the the ambient temperature was as little as 17C with the track only at 18C as Nelson Piquet roled down pitlane.

The Renault driver's benchmark time was only 1:48.727. Timo Glock reduced it to 1:48.496 before Felipe Massa slashed it to 1:47.666. Lewis Hamilton put that time into perspective by taking P1 with a scorching 1:46.887.

Heikki Kovalainen took P2 off Massa before Massa went round for a second flying lap and took P2 back. Kimi Raikkonen needed three flying laps before settling for a 1:46.960 that left him the one now in P2.

Not to be outdone by all that Ferrari lapping, McLaren sent Heikki Kovalainen out again later in the session to see if he could improve. The track was clearly ratcheting up in speed as he took P1 with a 1:46.812.

With four minutes left the danger positions were: 10.Alonso, 11.Trulli, 12.Vettel, 13.Bourdais, 14.Glock, 15.Sutil, 16.Webber, 17.Fisichella, 18.Barrichello, 19.Button, 20. Nakajima.

Before the field flooded onto the track, Felipe Massa - who was by now down in 5th place - went out and put in a faster lap to re-take P2.

As the cars crossed the line for their final run Sutil took 14th, Fisi took 16th, Vettel leapt up to 6th, Glock took 7th, Webber 8th, Coulthard 6th, Piquet a magnificent 5th, Rosberg a worrying 12th, Kubica 17th, Barrichello 16th and Button 17th.

But above them all strode Sebastien Bourdais who put in a stuning time of 1:48.777 to grab P1.

So, out went:
16. Barrichello
17.Button
18.Sutil
19.Nakajima
20.Fisichella

The Hondas weren't surprised to exit in Q1, especially Jenson Button who had managed just 300 metres running in morning practice before fuel pressure problems had sidelined his car. But Kazuki Nakajima's 19th place was his worst of the season at what is the drivers' track.

Qualifying 2
Kimi Raikkonen was out first in Q2, the Ferrari immediately onto the softer tyre for a benchmark time of 1:46.298. Heikki Kovalainen reduced the P1 time to 1:46.037 also on the soft tyre.

Lewis Hamilton had stuck with the harder tyre for his run and couldn't quite dislodge his team-mate from the P1 position with a 1:46.088. Felipe Massa could only manage fourth place with a 1:46.391.

Nick Heidfeld - who'd been given a hurry-up nudge by BMW before the race - slotted his BMW ahead of Massa, and most importantly, in front of team-mate Robert Kubica.

Going into the final three minutes the danger positions were: 6.Alonso, 7.Kubica, 8.Vettel, 9.Piquet, 10.Bourdais, 11.Glock, 12.Webber, 13.Trulli, 14.Coulthard, 15.Rosberg

Only the McLarens and Ferraris stayed in the pits as everybody went out to try and find the kind of last moment speed that Bourdais had produced in Q1.

Vettel crossed the line in 7th, Trulli went 9th, Glock 11th, Coulthard was only 12th, Sebastien Bourdais went quicker than his team-mate and took 7th for Toro Rosso, Piquet put in disappointing 11th while his team-mate, Alonso, went 6th and Nico Rosberg stayed 15th.

So out went:
11.Trulli
12.Piquet
13.Glock
14.Coulthard
15.Rosberg

It was disappointing for David Coulthard who had been quicker than Mark Webber in Q1, but lost out in Q2 and also for the Toyota team who failed to get either car into Q3 for only the second time this year.

Qualifying 3
Felipe Massa went out first and put in a very poor opening lap, failing to get anywhere near the apex at Rivages and going too fast into the bus stop. His 1:48.666 P1 time would not last long.

Kimi Raikkonen immediately went quicker with a 1:48.513 while Lewis Hamilton decimated the pole time with a 1:47.973. Heikki Kovalainen got close to his team-mate for P2 with a 1:48.081. To show how slow Massa's opening lap had been, Nick Heidfeld took P4 with a 1:48.683.

As the cars went out for the second run, Felipe Massa showed he had learnt a lot of lessons and was faultless throughout his lap. As he crossed the line, it was a masterful recovery and he took pole with a 1:47.678, a whole second quicker than his first run.

As he was doing it Lewis Hamilton was setting the timing screens to purple and crossed the line with a 1:47.338 to take back pole. McLaren team-mate Kovalainen had been only a tenth slower than Hamilton first time round, but crucially failed to get ahead of Massa after a poor middle sector. His 1:47.815 was now almost half a second slower than Hamilton but good enough for P3.

Kimi Raikkonen managed to hold onto P4 from what looked like a more heavily-fueled Nick Heidfeld.

It had been a great escape for Massa - apart from getting himself onto the front row and able to challenge Lewis Hamilton into La Source on Lap 1 - he escaped the threat of rain. By the time the cars lined up for the GP2 race the track had been drenched.

For McLaren it will be a missed opportunity to lock out the front row, but so much still hinges on the weather tomorrow.

Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:47.338
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:47.678
03 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:47.815
04 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:47.992
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:48.315
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:48.504
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:48.736
08 R. Kubica BMW 1:48.763
09 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:48.951
10 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:50.319
11 J. Trulli Toyota 1:46.949
12 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:46.965
13 T. Glock Toyota 1:46.995
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:47.018
15 N. Rosberg Williams 1:47.429
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:48.153
17 J. Button Honda 1:48.211
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:48.226
19 K. Nakajima Williams 1:48.268
20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:48.447