Qualifying: Heikki on pole 'by a mile'

Saturday 5th July 2008

Heikki Kovalainen secured his maiden F1 pole position by "a mile" at Silverstone on Saturday, while Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton could only manage 3rd and 4th respectively.

In front of a sold-out crowd, most hoping to see Lewis Hamilton put Britain in pole position, Kovalainen dominated the final qualifying session. The Finn clocked a 1:21.049 to take the slot by over half a second, or "by a mile" according to his race engineer.

Third place went to Kimi Raikkonen, while Hamilton could only manage the fourth best time ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa had a dismal session - a stuck wheel nut relegating him to 9th place, while Robert Kubica will start back in P10.

Qualifying 1
The track temperature was only 27C with an ambient of 20C in bright, blustery conditions and with showers falling nearby when the pitlane opened.

As a result of the threat of rain, all 20 cars soon took to the track, Ferrari's Felipe Massa being the last out. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel set the first meaningful P1 time of 1:21.582 and then went on to set a quicker second lap.

Lewis Hamilton bettered it with a 1:21.287, McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen reduced it to 1:21.122 before Lewis put in a second quick lap of 1:20.288. In fact had he continued at speed on his third quick lap he would have reduced it even further.

Having had his car rebuilt on Friday after sliding on Fernando Alonso's oil, Felipe Massa looked at a distinct disadvantage to World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and was half a second slower.

Kovalainen decided - for whatever reason - that he needed to put in a faster time and reduced P1 to 1:19.957. At the same time Vettel put his Toro Rosso into third place, ahead of the two Ferraris.

With six minutes of the session left, the much-feared rain shower arrived, which looked as though it had sealed the fate of the slowest five drivers. David Coulthard, driving in his last British Grand Prix, had been amongst them up until the final five minutes, but sneaked up into 13th place.

With three minutes left the danger positions were:
14.Bourdais
15.Nakajima
16.Barrichello
17.Rosberg
18.Button
19.Sutil
20.Fisichella

The rain had been light and then lifted. Neither Nakajima and Rosberg decided to go out again, Rosberg already unhappy with his Williams' suspension. Nakajima had got into Q2 as long as no-one could go quicker and surely no-one would after rainfall...?

Unbelievably, Bourdais could - putting in the fastest middle sector of any car in the session and going up to P7! Sadly for Honda, neither Barrichello or Button could improve and the bottom five remained unchanged.

Qualifying 2
Fernando Alonso had been speedy in Q1 and in Q2 he set the P1 target time with a 1:20.336. This was soon beaten by an out-very-early Kimi Raikkonen who reduced P1 to 1:20.037 on the harder tyre.

This was then eclipsed by Heikki Kovalainen on the softer tyre, slashing the P1 time to 1:19.597, which Lewis Hamilton then slipped inside of with a 1:19.537. Showing signs of form to come, Mark Webber went P3 for Red Bull.

Proving that they had overcome their French difficulties Robert Kubica then slotted into P3 and BMW team-mate Nick Heidfeld went P4.

With three minutes of the session left the Ferraris were in the unusual position of being forced to take to the track again. The danger positions were: 6.Raikkonen 7.Massa 8.Alonso 9.Vettel 10.Piquet 11.Bourdais 12.Glock 13.Coulthard 14.Trulli 15.Nakajima.

The Ferraris changed to the softer compound and went out again. Vettel was first over the line and jumped to 7th, Massa took 7th place off him, Nakajima could only improve to 14th, Glock made it up to 9th, Nelson Piquet (having another good race weekend) took 9th off him, Fernando Alonso re-established himself in 6th place, Coulthard could only manage 11th, Toyota's Jarno Trulli could go no quicker than 14th, while Webber shot up to 3rd and Raikkonen took 6th.

As the metaphorical dust settled, the two Ferraris were in 6th and 8th positions, World Championship leader Felipe Massa only a tenth of a second away from the dropzone. The retiring David Coulthard only a tenth the wrong side of Nelson Piquet Junior. Out went:
11. Coulhard
12. Glock
13.Bourdais
14.Trulli
15.Nakajima

The Ferraris had used up 12 laps each to make it into Q3, Lewis Hamilton just seven.

Qualifying 3
If the cars had been quick to get out on track in Q1 and Q2, it took them two minutes to stir to action in Q3. Kimi Raikkonen continued his trend of going out early and set the benchmark P1 at 1:22.230.

Lewis Hamilton looked as though he was about to smash that time with two purple (fastest sectors) before he got caught out running too quickly into Priory and ran wide onto the gravel destroying his lap. What was surprising was that Hamilton continued on to finish his lap rather than dive into the pits.

Hamilton was not the only one in trouble. Robert Kubica had an off-track excursion and set no time. He drove back to the pits and got out of the car, guaranteeing himself P10. Felipe Massa had a problem on his rear tyre, the Ferrari team unable to change it and get him back out in time. So the Brazilian would have to stick with his first lap time.

Heikki Kovalainen had no such worries and easily cleared Raikkonen's P1 time with a 1:22.230. So, after the first runs it was Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Alonso, Heidfeld, Massa, Webber, Piquet and Hamilton in 8th place.

Raikkonen went out again - last year's race winner battling both his car and the blustery crosswinds to re-take P1 with a 1:21.206. It didn't look fast enough to keep pole because Kovalainen would surely improve at least a couple of tenths and what of Hamilton...?

Lewis stormed the first sector with a fastest time, but mistakes in his middle sector put him behind Raikkonen and at the line he could only manage P2 (though a lot better than P8). However he didn't stay there very long because Mark Webber's Red Bull then grabbed a spectacular pole, before an immaculate lap from Heikki Kovalainen established McLaren as the fastest car, demoting Lewis to P4.

For a dry Q3 it will probably be the most oddly-shaped grid of the season. A Red Bull on the front row, Kovalainen on pole, Piquet in P7 (though half a second slower than Alonso), Massa in 9th and Kubica in 10th.

Essentially it was a pole Lewis Hamilton threw away, that Raikkonen couldn't get near, that Massa was miles off, and where the BMW fell short. If it rains tomorrow - as is widely predicted - then exact starting positions will count for very little, but it was entertaining none the less.

Times
01 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:21.049
02 M. Webber Red Bull 1:21.554
03 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:21.706
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.835
05 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:21.873
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:22.029
07 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:22.491
08 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.251
09 F. Massa Ferrari 1:23.305
10 R. Kubica BMW no time
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:20.174
12 T. Glock Toyota 1:20.274
13 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.531
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:20.601
15 K. Nakajima Williams 1:21.112
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:21.512
17 J. Button Honda 1:21.631
18 N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.668
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:21.786
20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:21.885