15/03/2008
NEWS STORY
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Ahead of today's all-important qualifying session, the air temperature is 33 degrees, while the track temperature is 39 degrees.
Following the three somewhat unusual free practice sessions, particularly this morning's, this is probably the first opportunity we'll have to gauge the real form of the various teams and drivers.
The lights go green, and Sebastien Bourdais leads the way, followed, a minute or so later, by Glock, Vettel, Davidson, Sutil and Fisichella.
Bourdais posts the first time of the session, the former Champ Car star crossing the line at 30.250. moments later, however, he is upstaged by Fisichella and Vettel. However, next time around Bourdais retakes top spot with a 27.446.
Glock, who has had a gearbox change to his Toyota, is really hanging out the tail of his car, it wastes time but looks superb.
After eight minutes of the twenty minute session only eight drivers have posted times. The rules have been changed yet again, but we still have to suffer these periods of inactivity as the drivers wait for the optimum moment to run.
The second wave gets underway, Alonso, Piquet, Rosberg, Coulthard, Webber, Trulli, Button, Barrichello, Hamilton and Kovalainen. No sign of the Ferraris or BMWs.
Trulli goes quickest with a 27.077, but he is quickly demoted by Rosberg, as Alonso goes second ahead of Webber. It is fast and furious, as ever.
A 25.664 sees Kovalainen go quickest, but his McLaren teammate is on a hot lap. Following a mistake, the Englishman can only manage second, crossing the line at 26.572.
The BMW duo leaves the pits with seven minutes remaining, followed, shortly afterwards by Massa.
Vettel (soft) goes third, but is displaced almost instantly as Kubica goes second. Heidfeld has a poor lap as Raikkonen leaves the pits.
Kubica goes quickest in the first sector, but then loses time behind Raikkonen who is on his out lap.
Massa goes quickest in the first sector, as Heidfeld goes second overall. The Brazilian crosses the line at 25.994 to go third.
Just over three minutes remaining and Raikkonen goes fifth (26.140).
Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen and Hamilton, as the final assault of this phase gets underway.
Raikkonen is going very, very slowly. At first it looks as though he's slowing for a Toro Rosso, but as it sweeps by it becomes apparent that it is a problem with the Ferrari.
Coulthard goes sixth as Adrian Sutil spins in the final sector, his Force India stranded in the middle of the track. This couldn't happen at a worse time. Barrichello has moved up to seventh, while Piquet is stuck down in twenty-first, a nightmare debut for the Brazilian.
At the end of the first phase we lose Fisichella, Bourdais, Sutil, Sato, Piquet and Davidson.
Quickest was Kovalainen, ahead of Heidfeld, Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Barrichello, Coulthard, Trulli and Hamilton.
In the Ferrari garage, Kimi Raikkonen is out of his car which is surrounded by various engineers. Meanwhile, the race stewards reveal that the Finn will play no longer part in the session, which is either because he was pushed down the pitlane by his mechanics or because of the incident with Kubica. The latter unlikely because these investigations normally take a little time. And how.
The lights go green for the second phase, however, there is no rush to get to work. Eventually, Vettel leads the way, followed by Rosberg and Coulthard.
As Vettel goes quickest (26.291), Webber goes off at Turn 6, bringing out the red flags. The replay shows an apparent problem with the right-front brake, which causes the Australian to lose the back end of the Red Bull and bury it in the gravel. Ironically, his teammate, David Coulthard, tops the time sheets - though only two drivers have posted times.
The lights go green, and with just over eight minutes remaining, it should be very, very busy out there.
Massa is one of the first out, running on the softs. The Brazilian is really working the car, as he goes quickest in the second sector. At the line, Ferrari's sole remaining representative in this session posts a 25.691 to go quickest.
Kubica is on a hot lap, taking top spot with a 25.362, as Kovalainen goes second and Heidfeld third. All eyes are on Hamilton however, who goes quickest in the first two sectors. At the line the Englishman posts 25.187, despite some incredibly hairy moments, courtesy of the removal of driver aids.
Just over two minutes remaining, and Alonso, Trulli, Glock and Nakajima have yet to post a time. Meanwhile, the Hondas go eighth (Button) and tenth (Barrichello).
With less than twenty second remaining, Alonso begins his hot lap, as Barrichello improves to seventh. Rosberg fails to improve as Vettel goes sixth in the Toro Rosso.
Coulthard goes eighth and Trulli ninth as Alonso fails to make the cut. Along with the Spaniard we lose Barrichello, Button and Nakajima. With Raikkonen and Webber already eliminated.
Quickest was Hamilton, ahead of Kubica, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Massa, Vettel, Rosberg, Coulthard, Trulli and Glock.
Thanks to F1's new green image, we now lose the dreadful fuel burn phase, the final part of the session now reduced to ten minutes, during which time we finally get to see the cars running at their optimum.
The lights go green, as after a brief pause, Vettel is first out, followed by Rosberg and Heidfeld.
No messing about, most of the guys are out on the soft compound, including Hamilton, who leaves the pits as Vettel begins his hot lap.
With just over six minutes remaining, everyone except Glock is on track. That said, Vettel aborts his lap and dives into the pits. He was probably scrubbing a set of softs for tomorrow's race.
Rosberg posts the benchmark, crossing the line at 29.144. Moments later, Heidfeld posts a far more respectable 27.821. Still no sign of Glock.
Kovalainen momentarily holds pole position before being bumped off the top spot by his teammate, who crosses the line at 27.092. Massa posts 27.178, thereby splitting the McLarens. The replay shows Hamilton having another scary moment.
With just under three minutes remaining, the drivers dive into the pits as they prepare for the final assault. Strangely however, Vettel is out of his car, it looks as though he has opted not to post a time.
Kubica goes quickest in the first sector, and again in the second, however, he makes a mistake at the chicane. Elsewhere, Hamilton is also on a very hot lap.
Kubica goes quickest (26.869) as Kovalainen goes second, however, they've both bumped down by Hamilton who crosses the line at 26.714 to take pole. Heidfeld can only manage fifth as Coulthard takes eighth.
Therefore, Lewis Hamilton starts from pole position, ahead of Kubica, Kovalainen, Massa, Heidfeld, Trulli, Rosberg, Coulthard, Glock and Vettel.
We said at the beginning that this has been a strange weekend, and this session has been no different. While we expected to see McLaren and BMW up front, we were certainly expecting more from Ferrari.
Impressive performances from Williams and Toyota, while Red Bull could have had both cars in the top ten. And then there's that kid Vettel.
Earlier this week, Williams' Patrick Head suggested that the powers that be might consider reversing grids, and idea that many of us continue to dismiss as a gimmick. With so Raikkonen, Webber and Alonso starting so (relatively) far back tomorrow, it might be an ideal opportunity to see if such an idea might work.
Based on the evidence thus far this weekend however, we can expect fireworks tomorrow, and though Lewis must start favourite, one would be foolish to write off Ferrari or indeed BMW.
Bring it on.