German Grand Prix Qualifying 19/07/08

[MikeLane]

Massa is on form but Hamilton takes the pole.

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German Grand Prix

Hockenheim, Germany
Round 10
July 19th, 2008

By

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent

The circuit is 4.574km (2.82mls) long with fast straights and a technical six-corner stadium section.

The lap record, set in 2004, is held by Kimi Raikkonen in 1min13.780secs.

Fifteen minutes before the qualifying session started there was a little rain but the track was dry for the start and would remain so throughout.

The only factor of importance was a fairly strong wind, which could unbalance the cars in a variety of ways at different points of the circuit.

With the aerodynamic F1 cars and their reliance on downforce for the high grip levels they achieve, a tail wind will reduce that force, whilst a headwind will increase it.

This directly affects braking points, which need to be adjusted accordingly.

Crosswinds on the other hand can unsettle the cars and if changeable, becomes a real problem for the drivers.


QUALIFYING


As the first session got underway, Nico Rosberg was first out in the Williams and managed a 1min17.522secs for his timed run which was slower than the morning session.

Sebastian Vettel immediately bettered that by nearly half a second followed by Kimi Raikkonen who was faster again.

The cars were out on the harder compound tyres and Raikkonen did two more timed laps, each better than the one before to go through in 1min15.627secs on his 3rd attempt. This seemed surprising that he was prepared to do three timed laps on one set of tyres but clearly they were holding up on the Ferrari.

Felipe Massa, on the other hand did two runs with the 2nd giving him a time of 1min15.255secs, some 4/10ths faster than his team-mate. This confirmed the other sessions over the weekend where Massa seems to be happier with his car than Raikkonen.

With ten minutes left in the session, Lewis Hamilton put in a 1min15.218secs to go fastest and his team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen posted a 1min15.476secs.

The Ferraris went out for a final try, whilst the two McLarens stayed in their garage.

Massa went fastest with a 1min14.921secs to lead the pack into the second session.

Drivers eliminated at this stage were Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Nelsinho Piquet (Renault), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Giancarlo Fisichello (Force India).

As we started the second session Massa went out on the softer compound tyres.
Drivers, of course, have to use both types of tyre in the race and so it would be interesting to see any differences in time.

Massa posted a 1min 14.747secs to better his team-mate by 2/10ths of a second which reaffirmed the position apparent throughout the weekend. Raikkonen was clearly not happy with his setup.

With 8 minutes left in the session, Hamilton did a 1min 14.603secs to go fastest and what was clear was, that he was much faster than anyone else in the technical stadium part of the lap.

The other noticeable feature of this whole qualifying session was the pace young Vettel was finding with his Toro Rosso. With less than two minutes to go he was faster than David Coultard in the Red Bull car and Coultard was in the drop zone.

Five drivers would be dropped in this session and at this stage Coultard was in that zone.

As drivers completed their last attempt in this session Sebastien Bourdais, in the other Toro Rosso, overshot at the hairpin having misjudged his braking point. There is a wide runoff area and so it was not a problem in terms of damaging the car but it cost him time.

It has to be said that Bourdais has failed to impress in this, his first season in Formula One and he must be concerned about his future with the team, especially with his team-mate forging ahead in the sister car and challenging the senior team, Red Bull.

As the second session ended, the following drivers were eliminated, Timo Glock (Toyota), Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), Rosberg (Williams), Jenson Button (Honda) and Bourdais (Toro Rosso).

The biggest disappointment here was the elimination of Heidfeld who was clearly struggling, whilst perhaps the biggest surprise was Fernando Alonso who popped up into 4th place. Clearly his class is getting more out of the Renault than could be expected.

So we moved into the final session where the cars are carrying their race fuel and so strategy plays a significant part.

Early times put Massa ahead, Raikkonen 2nd, Jarno Trulli 3rd and Hamilton 4th.

Alonso, still driving above the level of the car, put his Renault in 2nd place in this first part of the session.

With three minutes to go the cars fitted new tyres and made their last attempts at pole position.

Massa came through strongly with a 1min15.859secs to head the times but with a great final lap, Hamilton took the pole with a 1min15.656secs.


Tomorrow’s top ten grid order will be:-

Hamilton (McLaren) 1min15.656secs
Massa (Ferrari)
Kovalainen (McLaren)
Trulli (Toyota)
Alonso (Renault)
Raikkonen (Ferrari)
Kubica (BMW Sauber)
Webber (Red Bull)
Vettel (Toro Rosso)
Coultard (Red Bull) 1min17.503secs



With nearly two second between the top ten cars you would expect some strategy to be at work here but some of the results are surprising.

Hamilton and Massa are clearly close and the race between the two should be fascinating.

Raikkonen is clearly struggling with his setup whilst Trulli and Alonso performed above where one would expect them to be, especially if you compare the performance of their respective team-mates.

The star here was Vettel, who once again showed his team-mate the way, but more importantly split the Red Bulls of Webber and Coultard. These are the ‘senior’ cars and surely Vettel must be favoured to move up when Coultard retires at the end of the season.

Finally both Trulli and Alonso showed their class with 4th and 5th places and it will be interesting to see what their fuel strategies were and therefore whether their places are genuine or not.

The race should be a fascinating one with the McLaren probably the faster one in the hands of Hamilton but the Ferrari perhaps better on the longer runs, particularly with Massa at the helm.

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent

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