Formula One Updates; Qualifying In Turkey

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Mike Lane

UPDATES

The big story entering the 12th round of the Formula One season at Istanbul, Turkey, was the Lewis Hamilton/Fernando Alonso stand-off following the antics in Hungary.

It was reported after the race the two were not on speaking terms. This followed the blocking of Hamilton in the pits by Alonso, which prevented Hamilton from attempting a last run for the pole position. Alonso was subsequently penalized for the race, which Hamilton went on to win.

Formula One then had a three-week break during which rumors were abundant about what occurred and what Alonso’s future might be within McLaren.

During interviews with both drivers, it seems the two had meetings with the team and subsequently together. Both maintained each one gave his respective point of view, agreed to work together and wipe the slate clean.

The team, meanwhile, has gone to great lengths to reaffirm that its drivers have absolute parity and will always have the same treatment. This appears to have cleared the air and, if so, will no doubt be a huge relief to Ron Dennis and his team at McLaren.

Other news since the Hungarian Grand Prix includes the failure of the new Spyker car to pass the rigorous rear end crash test. That meant it couldn't be used in this weekend’s event.

On another front, Super Aguri apparently has some difficulty with its budget after a problem with one of its sponsors. Even the small teams at the rear of the field need about $100 million to compete, so they hope to find a resolution quickly.

Finally, Sebastian Bourdais, the Champ Car champion, seems set to be a Torro Rosso driver next season.

QUALIFYING

With track temperatures nearing 50C, the first qualifying session began with Takuma Sato [Super Aguri] and Sebastian Vettel [Torro Rosso] first on the track. Vettel was brought in to replace American Scott Speed, who has not shone in Formula One. Vettel, BMW’s third driver, scored an impressive point at the Indy Grand Prix in his first outing to become the youngest to accomplish the feat at age 19.

Early fast laps included Nico Rosberg with 1:28.275 before Hamilton posted 1:27.513. They were followed quickly by Kimi Raikkonen with 1:27.294 lap. With 4 minutes remaining in the first session, both Alonso and Felipe Massa posted fast laps, leaving the four championship contenders filling the first four positions. These four did not need to try another run, as their times were already fast enough to hold up through the second session.

With one minute to go in the first session, Anthony Davidson, in the Super Aguri, recorded a stunning lap to put himself eighth.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, Ralf Schumacher, Sato, Vettel, Adrian Sutil, and Sakon Yamamoto failed to make the next session, relegating them to 17th through 22nd place, respectively. The big surprise was Schumacher, who was unable to repeat his form from Friday's practice.

Moving into the second session, once again the first four drivers were within two tenths of a second of each other, demonstrating the closeness between Ferrari and McLaren.

Alexander Wurz managed to blow his lap by going straight at turn 9, thereby having to abandon that lap. By contrast, with one minute left in the session, Davidson again put in a stunning drive for eighth, but as the session finished, other drivers improved slightly and Davidson had to be satisfied with 11th. This was, by any standards, an excellent result for effectively one of Honda’s ‘B’ team cars.

The end of this session saw Davidson, Mark Webber, David Coultard, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Wurz eliminated, thus sending them to starting positions 11 through 16, respectively, on the grid.

Again, the top four drivers were within less than two-tenths of a second with Alonso posting a time of 1:26.841. In this session, the cars run with the lightest fuel loads , thus demonstrating their raw pace.

The third session began with the fuel burning phase. Cars get back 2.5Kgs of fuel for every lap they complete in this session, provided they maintain a predetermined minimum lap speed. With 3 minutes to go, the order at the top was Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton. The times set by all four cars were within four-tenths of a second from first to the fourth.

After a final pit stop and tire change, the last 10 drivers tried for their best time and the pole position was taken by Massa in a Ferrari. The starting lineup follows. Notice it means that both Hamilton and Alonso will start the race from the dirty side of the track.
1st Massa 1:27.329
2nd Hamilton +0.044
3rd Raikkonen +0.217
4th Alonso +0.245
5th Kubica +0.393
6th Heidfeld +0.708
7th Kovaleinen +1.162
8th Rosberg +1.172
9th Trulli +1.411
10th Fisichella +1.993

[rookie]

As much as I like Hamilton, I still hope Massa wins the Championship.

I think this will be a rival for years to come, if the teams hold everything together.

[Mikey uk]

I agree that Massa seems a very nice young man and is talented but he does seem to lack some consistency.

I do not think he has the raw talent of Hamilton and with him still in his Rookie season what will he acheive in the future?

All in all though there are some talented young drivers in F1 currently and as BMW, Williams, Red Bull and Honda raise their games in the next couple of years, hopefully, we are in for some great F1 racing I think.

We Brits are always ready to knock home grown talent but I'm going to stick with Hamilton, I think he can go all the way.

Mikey uk: