Turkish Grand Prix Qualifying

[MikeLane]

McLaren improves but Massa takes pole in Turkey again

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Turkish Grand Prix

Istanbul Park Circuit

Round 5

May 10, 2008

By

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent

Following the announcement during the week of the demise of the Super Aguri team, there were only 20 cars competing in this qualifying session. This meant that five cars were to be eliminated in each of the first two sessions and there was a likelihood of one of the bigger teams not making it into the second session.

It was good to see Hikki Kovalainen back after his accident and passed fit to race.

His wheel failure was apparently down to a manufacturing fault where one of the surfaces of the wheel rim had received an extra coat of lacquer.

The temperature in Istanbul was cooler than normal and a number of drivers had had problems with handling during the practice sessions.

Red Bull and Renault had topped the time sheets during the final practice session on Saturday morning and looked to have improved since Barcelona.

QUALIFYING

The circuit is 5.338km (3.34mls) long and is an anticlockwise track offering overtaking opportunities.

The lap record is held by JP Montoya (2005) at 1.24.770 mins.

When the first qualifying session commenced Giancarlo Fisichello, in the Force India car, was first to post a time with a lap of 1.29.273 mins.

This was quickly bettered by Timo Glock, in the Toyota, with a 1.27.539 mins.

When the front runners set their times Felipe Massa, in the Ferrari, was quickest with a 1.25.994 mins.

At the end of the session the following drivers were eliminated:- Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Nelsinho Piquet (Renault), Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), Fisichello (Force India) and Adrian Sutil (Force India).

Perhaps surprisingly we had lost a Renault and a Williams in this first session.

At the commencement of the second session, David Coultard was the first to post a time in the Red Bull with a 1.26.895.

With this session most likely to show the fastest runners, Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari was fastest with a 1.26.050 mins. He was followed by Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), Massa (Ferrari), Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren).

The losers in this session were Nico Rosberg (Williams), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Jenson Button (Honda), Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) and Glock (Toyota).

During the final session different tyre strategies were played out when we came to the final run for each driver to try for pole position. Most drivers elected to go for the softer option tyre, which should be worth about 4/10ths of a second per lap, but Hamilton, in particular, chose to go with the harder compound.

As the session finished, Massa showed why he loves this circuit and took pole with a 1.27.617 mins. Kovalainen confirmed he is fit to race with second place on the grid and Hamilton on the harder tyres was a tenth slower than his team-mate for third.

The top ten grid positions for Sunday’s race are:-

1st Massa…………….1.27.717 mins
2nd Kovalainen………+0.191secs
3rd Hamilton…………+0.306 secs
4th Raikkonen………..+0.309 secs
5th Kubica……………+0.773 secs
6th Webber…………..+0.800 secs
7th Alonso…………...+0.805 secs
8th Trulli…………….+1.219 secs
9th Heidfeld…………+1.265 secs
10th Coultard………..+2.342 secs

It was good to see Kovalainen back on form and both Red Bulls in the top ten. With Alonso posting 7th place, the final practice session seemed to be borne out in qualifying.

With the Ferraris split by the McLarens, tomorrows race should be fascinating.

We shall see if Ferraris dominance will last.

Mike Lane, F1Correspondent

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