Ferrari dominate qualifying in France as Raikkonen grabs pole

[MikeLane]

Ferrari dominate qualifying, whilst Hamilton takes 10 place penalty to start 13th in Sunday’s Race.

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French Grand Prix
Magny Cours, France
Round 8
June 21st

By

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent

The circuit is 4.411km (2.71mls) long with a smooth surface and wide run-off areas. It is renowned for wide grip variations depending on track temperature.
This was demonstrated in the practice sessions with drivers finding the grip changing between sessions.

The current lap record here is held by Michael Schumacher (2004), with a time of 1min15.377sec.

After the mistake by Lewis Hamilton in Canada he had been penalised with a 10 places drop in grid position from his best qualifying time in this session. Nico Rosberg also suffered the same fate after being involved in the same incident.

This meant Hamilton really needed to qualify in pole position and even then would start 11th for Sunday’s race.

The qualifying session here in France, therefore, looked like Ferrari and BMW Sauber would be able to capitalise on McLaren’s woes, but in practice BMW Sauber looked to be struggling for pace.

The news here this weekend was that this would be the last race run at this circuit in Magny Cours. Possible proposals are being looked at for a new circuit as well as a possible street circuit in Paris but at this time there will not be a further Grand Prix here.

There is also news of a dispute between F1 drivers and the FIA over the new fees for the driver’s ‘Super Licence’.
Currently these cost each driver £1000 plus £70 per point scored in the Championship.
The new fees are £7500 plus £1500 per point scored.

To put this in context, this means Kimi Raikkonen last year paid £78000 whilst winning the World Championship. For a driver scoring the same points this year the fee would be £172,500, a big increase.


QUALIFYING


This circuit tends to see cars close together in time and in the last practice session this morning the first three cars were separated by 7/100sec. As we entered the first qualifying session it was going to be critical to perform well on each timed lap as the margin between progressing to the second session and going out were going to be very small.

First car out in the first session was the Toro Rosso driven by Sebastien Bourdais and he posted a 1min 17.101sec, which was not going to help him get through.

He was quickly followed by Sebastian Vettel in the sister car, Timo Glock in the Toyota and Jensen Button in a Honda. Button was slower but the other two were substantially faster with Vettel managing a 1min16.303secs. To put this time in context, the two Ferraris ran 1min16.107secs and 1min16.136secs respectively.

Gradually the time came down during the session and as the clock stopped for this first 20 minutes, Felipe Massa went quickest in the Ferrari with a 1min15.024secs.

The first drivers to be eliminated were Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Jenson Button (Honda), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) and Adrian Sutil (Force India).

In the second qualifying session the Ferraris again showed their pace with the BMW Saubers again struggling, especially Nick Heidfeld.

Nelsinho Piquet was also struggling in the Renault in contrast to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso who was putting in a strong performance.

McLaren were a mixed bag with Lewis Hamilton seemingly in the hunt for pole but HeikkiKovalainen struggling.

As the session drew to a close Ferrari again posted the two fastest times and Alonso just edging out Hamilton.

The drivers eliminated from this qualifying period were Piquet (Renault), Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), Vettel (Toro Rosso), Bourdais (Toro Rosso) and Rosberg (Williams).

So we entered the final ten minutes of Qualifying and here the cars are fuelled for the race so we never see the fastest times and strategy plays a part. Do you fuel light for good qualifying but have to pit early in the race, or the opposite?

For Hamilton strategy was going to be crucial and popular wisdom would suggest that a light fuel, aggressive strategy would be best.

In the first run Hamilton was 7th fastest after a small mistake saw him run wide.

Interestingly Hamilton opted for the harder compound tyre whereas the Ferraris were on the softer option.

Lap times were, as predicted slower, with the front-runners in the 1min16sec bracket.

As the clock went to zero to end the session it was the two Ferraris, which claimed the front row of the grid with Raikkonen on pole.

Hamilton managed third place, which means he will start Sunday’s race in 13th place after his ten-place penalty.

Alonso put in an excellent lap to grab 4th spot but will now move up to 3rd with Hamilton’s demise.



Tomorrow’s top ten grid order will be:-

Raikkonen, Ferrari
Massa, Ferrari
Alonso, Renault
Trulli, Toyota
Kovalainen, McLaren
Kubica, BMW Sauber
Webber, Red Bull
Coultard, Red Bull
Glock, Toyota
Piquet, Renault


Magny Cours is a circuit where overtaking is difficult. The turns are fast and flowing and the cars are at full throttle for 64% of the time.

There are a couple of opportunities into the hairpins and these generally have grip both on the outside and inside of the track, however this is not going to be an easy place for Hamilton and Rosberg to make up their penalty places.

There may be a glimmer of hope with the forecast of thunderstorms this weekend, which of course would offer the best hope for the two young drivers.

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent

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