Kovalainen Takes His first Pole At British Grand Prix.

[MikeLane]

McLaren makes the pace and Kovalainen takes his first pole as Hamilton tries too hard and Ferrari falter.

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British Grand Prix

Silverstone, England

Round 9

July 5th, 2008

By

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent

The circuit is 5.141km (3.16mls) long and situated on a World War 11 airfield. The conditions there are renowned for being susceptible to wind which can upset the cars.

The circuit is a favourite of many of the drivers as it is very high speed and calls for considerable courage particularly in the first part of the lap. The infield also provides a different challenge, as it is very technical.

The lap record is still held by Michael Schumacher from 2004 with a 1min18.739secs.

During the last practice sessions prior to practice, Felipe Massa in the Ferrari was quickest in the morning but then Heikki Kovalainen went fastest in the afternoon.

The question for today was, would Ferrari continue to dominate or could McLaren fight back? In particular, after a torrid couple of weeks at the hands of the tabloid press, could Lewis Hamilton do his talking on the track and fight back?

The news leading up to this qualifying session was:-

Firstly, that David Coultard has announced his retirement from F1 racing at the end of the season and so this weekend’s race would be his last home Grand Prix.

Secondly, that from 2010 the British Grand Prix will be held at Donnington Park and not Silverstone. This is a pity after all the improvements made to the circuit in recent years. It will be interesting to see what improvements Donnington can make over the next couple of years as the F1 race could not run there currently, with the present conditions.


QUALIFYING

As the first qualifying session got underway the weather was at the heart of the forthcoming action. It was pretty windy, which at Silverstone can produce tricky crosswinds to unsettle the cars, as well as headwinds and tailwinds. Headwinds, of course, tend to reduce the downforce on the cars and produce difficult, unpredictable cornering characteristics.

In addition, rain was forecast to occur during the session and so the sensible strategy seemed to be to get an early lap in, in case the predicted rain materialised.

As if on cue, all 20 cars took to the circuit early to get their banker lap in.

The wind seemed to be giving one or two of the cars problems, noticeably the two Toyotas.

After six minutes rain started to fall but it wasn’t to amount to much, as it happened, and as the first session time ran down it appeared Nico Rosberg in the Williams was in trouble when he did not go out for a final try, despite being in the drop zone. It was later confirmed that he had a suspension problem, which was causing the car to be difficult to handle in the corners. The problem for Rosberg, of course, is that the car now goes into ‘parc-ferme’ and cannot be worked on by the mechanics, so that will be Rosberg’s race car on race day.

Sebastien Bourdais demonstrated the value of going out after the rain as he managed to raise his position to a very creditable 6th place at this stage.

At the end of this first session Kovalainen maintained his early promise in practice when he posted a time of 1min19.957secs to go fastest.

The cars to be eliminated were Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Jenson Button (Honda), Nico Rosberg (Williams), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Giancarlo Fisichello (Force India).

When we entered the second session, Fernando Alonso in the Renault was out early on track and posted a 1min20.336secs, but was quickly bettered by first, Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, then Kovalainen in the McLaren and finally Hamilton in the McLaren with a time of 1min19.537secs.

The home crowd were encouraged that perhaps Hamilton might get his second consecutive pole here at Silverstone.

With five minutes to go in the session both BMWs made their way out on track for the first time and one wondered if they were leaving it a bit late but both put in times which were good enough for third and fourth positions at this stage.

As we approached the last couple of minutes, Ferrari found it necessary to go out again, such were the margins between staying in and going out at this stage.
In the event, they could only manage sixth and eight places but it was good enough to go through to the final ten.

Cars eliminated in this second session were David Coultard (Red Bull), Timo Glock (Toyota), Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams).

So we entered the third and final session where the cars are obliged to carry their race fuel, and strategy places a part.

Do you fuel light for a good shot at pole position but then compromise your race when forced to refuel earlier or do you fuel heavier and start lower down the grid but run further in the race.

Of course we spectators do not discover each team’s strategy until after the first fuel stops in the race.

It can sometimes be in a team’s interest to apply different strategies to their two drivers to maximise their chance of points for the constructor’s championship as well as the driver’s rankings.

With Ferrari’s indifferent performance so far this weekend one might think Ferrari would play a strategic game with their two drivers. Whilst McLaren have shown good speed all weekend and must have been fancying their chance of an all McLaren front row.

In this final session Raikkonen was first to post a time with a 1min22.519secs but the car seemed to be exhibiting oversteer.

Kovalainen bettered that time and then Hamilton, on a much faster lap, ran wide and took to the gravel thereby ruining his first attempt. One expected him to dive immediately into the pits, but he continued on around the lap leaving less time to regroup and go for one final attempt.

As the clock ticked to zero for the end of the session, Raikkonen went fastest whilst Hamilton seemed a little cautious, to go second.

The drama wasn’t finished though, as Kovalainen posted a 1min21.049secs to take his first pole and a stunning lap by Mark Webber in the Red Bull put the Australian on the front row alongside the McLaren.

Tomorrow’s top ten grid order will be:-

Kovalainen, McLaren………………..1min 21.049secs
Webber, Red Bull……………………1min 21.554secs
Raikkonen, Ferrari…………………...1min 21.706secs
Hamilton, McLaren………………….1min 21.835secs
Heidfeld, BMW Sauber……………...1min 21.873secs
Alonso, Renault……………………...1min 22.029secs
Piquet, Renault………………………1min 22.491secs
Vettel, Toro Rosso…………………...1min 23.251secs
Massa, Ferrari………………………..1min 23.305secs
Kubica, BMW Sauber………………..No Time



McLaren had the pace this time to get a front row for both their cars but a small mistake by Hamilton meant his last attempt was perhaps a little cautious. I wouldn’t bet against him on race day if he can keep his head. He has shown blistering speed during this qualifying session and could get the job done.

By comparison, Ferrari looked a little lack lustre today and the 1.5secs difference between Raikkonen and Massa may just indicate totally different fuel strategies. We shall see in the race how that progresses.

A stunning qualifying by Mark Webber sees him in a rare position on the front row and may signify good progress by the Red Bull team.

The other excellent performance was by the young Vettel who will start eighth, in contrast to his team-mate Bourdais who is in thirteenth.

Lastly, Kubica failed to go out for the last session and did not record a time in his BMW. This may signify a problem for the young Pole.

Tomorrow promises a great race on this fast circuit but the weather forecast is for rain and if that happens, it could be anyone’s race.

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent

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